''If you were looking for the flash game, look under Videogame/TheLastStand. For the Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger movie, see [[Film/TheLastStand here]].''

TheSiege has not killed you all, but the battle is over. Victory is impossible. [[TrappedBehindEnemyLines Escape is impossible]] or [[TiredOfRunning futile]]. Surrender will not be accepted, or is [[HonorBeforeReason dishonorable]], or will lead to a FateWorseThanDeath. The chance to cross the LineInTheSand has come and gone. TheCavalry is not coming.

There is only one thing to do: [[DoNotGoGentle make them pay]]. In blood. Make them pay for every inch they take. For every drop of blood you shed -- shed a gallon of theirs. No matter that they outnumber you so badly that you can kill a hundred of them and still be overwhelmed. [[TakingYouWithMe Take as many of the bastards with you as you can.]]

You can even hope that the casualties you inflict may aid others on your side when you are gone. Maybe. Even if [[WhatYouAreInTheDark no one will ever know]].

If the forces are in a place with good defences, TruthInTelevision. Vastly disproportionate forces may be needed to get at such forces in RealLife. It usually ends badly for the smaller force but can become a PyrrhicVictory for the larger.

Sometimes, TheCavalry or the BigDamnHeroes ''do'' show up. Sometimes, the enemy will run out of supplies, victuals or ammunition, or decide a PyrrhicVictory is not worth of effort, and leave the battlefield. Sometimes, the dogged opposition causes the enemy forces to decide to take an end-run about you. Sometimes, the news of newly-made peace will reach both the defenders and attackers and resolve the situation without fight. More usually this trope is a set up for a DownerEnding, perhaps [[BittersweetEnding sweetened]] by [[SoleSurvivor one or two survivors]] LeftForDead, or sent away to BringNewsBack or the loyalty, {{f|ireForgedFriends}}riendship, and unyielding honor of the doomed forces, leading to ItHasBeenAnHonor -- and the DyingMomentOfAwesome.

In rare cases it ends with KillEmAll and a full blown TheBadGuyWins. Sometimes the ''villains'' are forced into a last stand, in which case VillainousValor is often invoked.

[[StockPhrases Tip-offs]] when the [[ICanStillFight character is wounded]], or stays behind to [[YouShallNotPass allow others to escape]], include:* "[[ObiWanMoment I've gone as far as I can go]]. Keep going! [[YouShallNotPass I will hold them off as long as I can]]."* {{Leader}}: "Where's so-and-so?!" {{Protagonist}}: ''(silently shakes head)'' or "HeDidntMakeIt"* "I'll [[TakingYouWithMe take a few of them with me]] before it's done!"

May overlap with YouShallNotPass, but in that case, the characters want to maximize the ''time'' they hold out. They will sacrifice the chance to slaughter more enemies if it would cost their lives when they could buy more time.

When the characters make them pay in one grand swoop, it's the subtrope TakingYouWithMe. This can drag out a long time, as the characters send as many people as possible ahead of them. Individual characters (especially wounded ones) may introduce several TakingYouWithMe incidents.

At least one SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome is likely, even if the characters know each one to be a PyrrhicVictory. From the enemy standpoint, it is a SelfDestructiveCharge.

Compare RoaringRampageOfRevenge, which often expresses similar sentiments about those killed. On a larger scale, HopelessWar. BolivianArmyEnding often implies such a stand. InItsHourOfNeed often leads to one. May also be related to DoomedMoralVictor. StandYourGround orders this. Characters who do this can also be considered DefiantToTheEnd. Compare DoNotGoGentle when it is individuals doing it. Compare And Contrast LastDance that is considered a one on one version of this trope. Constrast ToWinWithoutFighting.----!!Examples

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[[folder:Anime]]* ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon'': ''Be Invoked''. The final battle between the crew of the Solo Ship and the Buff Clan turns into [[KillEmAll an absolute no-win scenario.]]* The climax of ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion End Of Evangelion]]'' sees [[spoiler:Nerv make a last stand against the rest of the world. They lose everyone except the BridgeBunnies, and in the end, not even the Bridge Bunnies survive!]]** Special mention should go to [[spoiler: Asuka's final fight against the MP Evas.]]** [[spoiler:Then the end of the world as we know it happens, as basically everyone returns back to the Lifestream. NERV also wanted this outcome, so it's a Lose/Lose/Lose Scenario since NERV existed to prevent the Angels from wiping out humanity. Apparently, for the rest of the world it would be a Win Scenario, since otherwise Humanity will kill EVERYTHING else also instead of just Humanity. Depending on your interpretation, the Angels Attacks may be this for the Earth itself. No, this is not a Happy Mythos, why do you ask?]]* Saito from ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'' faces [[spoiler:an army of 70,000 men, eventually dying but he managed to hold them for 4 days in order to allow the rest of Tristain's army to evacuate. He gets better though.]]** Later he comments that it was [[spoiler:easier to face an army of 70,000 men than a pissed off Louise.]]* The last few episodes of both seasons of GhostInTheShell. [[spoiler:The first by a Narc Hit squad, of all things, and the second by a proper [[FalseFlagOperation False Flag]] operating [[WarForFunAndProfit military industrial complex]] JSDF.]]** Eventually subverted in the first one, as Section 9 retreats and is later captured.* ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'' is somewhat like this... After the Choice Battle [[spoiler: which Vongola lost]], they fly straight back to Namimori only to battle Byakuran and the Funeral Wreaths for the final time. [[spoiler: And they managed to destroy all seven bad guys!!!]]* Towards the end of ''TransformersCybertron'', Scourge returns to Jungle Planet, hoping to save it from the Unicron Singularity. Seeing no way to prevent his world's destruction, he rallies the other inhabitants to the temple with the full intention of making a last stand. {{Subverted}} when Leobreaker and Primus manage to save the lot of them anyway.* In {{Kakurenbo}} this is how the CreepyTwins choose to go down after being cornered by the demons.* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': Homura versus The Walpurgis Night. The darned thing won't go down even though Homura unleashed the arsenal of JSDF at her/it/them. [[spoiler:[[GroundhogDayLoop And that was not the first time it happened to Homura.]]]]* There are two last stands in HighschoolOfTheDead (at least, in the anime--possibly others in the manga). The first was when the gang was cornered at a wire barricade. They slaughtered dozens of zombies, but more kept coming, but just as things approached the end they were rescued by the [[BigDamnHeroes timely arrival]] of a group of people with firefighter equipment. The second time happened at Saya's parents' estate. The zombies broke through the gate and flooded the compound, leaving Saya's [[BackToBackBadasses parents]] and their guards to try to hold off [[NotUsingTheZWord Them]] long enough for the civilians to escape. Their fate was left unknown, but it didn't look good.* ''GoShogun Time Étranger'' has an interesting version: the heroine, [[ActionGirl Remy Shimada]], [[spoiler: alone fights [[EldritchAbomination a giant surrealistic beast]] that represents Death itself. She's exhausted, she has hurt her wrist due to excessive shooting her heavy revolver (TruthInTelevision, as 44. Magnum is likely to cause it) and has one last bullet left. Remy gets up, stands with her back to a [[CrucifiedHeroShot stone cross]], ties the revolver to her hand to not drop it and takes her last shot. She [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome wins.]]]]* In the ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' movie ''[[Anime/DigimonXEvolution X-Evolution]]'', a number of Digimon, including [=WarGreymon=] X, [=MetalGarurumon=] X and Dukemon X battle a never-ending swarm of Death-X-[=DORUguremon=] even as the Digital World falls apart.* From ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', we get one as part of the [[NighInvulnerable Third Raikage's]] backstory. [[spoiler: [[OneManArmy He held off an army of enemy ninja, 10,000 strong]] to cover [[FatherToHisMen his comrades retreat]]. He fought for three days and nights before he finally succumbed to chakra exhaustion. Note, its only possible he died of ''exhaustion'' instead of any injury, considering he could NoSell a fricking [[RazorWind Futon]]: [[SphereOfDestruction Rasenshuriken]].]]* [[spoiler: Hilshire and Triela]] in GunslingerGirl.* Around two-thirds through the series in ''LegendOfGalacticHeroes'', [[spoiler: Alexandre Bewcock led the Free Planets Star Fleet on a last stand against the Galactic Empire in the Battle of Mar-Adetta. He lost eventually, but not without inflicting considerable damage on the Imperial forces.]]* ''[[Film/Gundam00AWakeningOfTheTrailblazer Gundam00: A Wakening of the Trailblazer]]'' is also a proper example, [[spoiler:particularly the last half]]: 12 fleets of the Earth Sphere Federation's Space force, an old spacecraft meant for deep space travel (outfitted with a WaveMotionGun), and another Spaceship belonging to [[NGOSuperpower the paramilitary organization]] [[LaResistance which fought against them before]]... [[spoiler:against God-Knows-How-Many alien shapeshifters.]] Lots of FromBadToWorse moments, [[spoiler:until a MessianicArchetype of the series arrived in his new Gundam... Just to initiate the final phase of [[BigGood the organization's founder]]'s larger plan - [[FirstContact the dialogues to come]].]]** In the end the humans had a somewhat narrow victory, after having more than 70% of the fleet [[FateWorseThanDeath "assimilated"]].* Happens a few times in ''LightNovel/OdaNobunaNoYabou'':** The first is in episode 3 when Yoshiharu attempts to rescue Saitou Dosan, who is fighting his son, Saitou Yoshitatsu, after being betrayed due to the son refusing to accept Nobuna as the rightful heir. He was prepared to die until Yoshiharu convinces him to live for Nobuna's sake.** The second time occurs during episode 6, when Yoshitatu's forces attack the hastily built fort Yoshiharu built. Nobuna arrives to see it burning to the ground, and believing [[YouAreTooLate she didn't make it in time.]] [[spoiler:Until she saw him waving the gourd she gave him earlier.]]** The third instance occurs during episode 11. Yoshiharu volunteers to [[LineInTheSand stay behind]] with a small force to buy Nobuna time to escape a trap set up by the Asai/Asakura forces. As expected of a larger force attacking a much smaller one, it doesn't go too well for him, and nearly every single man who stayed behind with him ends up dying, but he does succeed in his objective, and manages to take out quite a few of the enemy thanks to utilizing concentrated musket firing. [[note]]where a row of soldiers fired, then another row fires while the first is reloading. This allowed a higher rate of fire, rather than having everyone fire at once, then have to reload, which gave the enemy time to attack.[[/note]].* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' is all about this trope. When the last remnant of humanity is locked within walled settlements and [[HumanoidAbomination Titans]] clawing at their gates trying to eat them, the [[RedshirtArmy Survey Corps]], the branch of the military devoted to reclaiming lost territory, is a firm believer in this.-->'''Mike''': We will have lost only the moment humans give up fighting.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comics]]* In ''ElEternauta'' the decimated [[LaResistance resistance]] decides to go down fighting when cornered and ''hearing'' the as-of-yet unrevealed "ultimate mook" approaching. Still, [[spoiler: it gets double subverted since they manage to discover a weakness in the enemy's "ultimate mook", but are soon surrounded and defeated by lesser mooks.]] There are a few survivors though.* One ''StarWars'' story portrays the [[{{Mooks}} Imperial stormtroopers]] as simply men, rather than faceless villains, and, in a deliberate homage to ''{{Zulu}}'', they struggle to hold a small outpost against an overwhelming force of tribal natives.* The last fortress guarding a magical portal in ''{{ComicBook/Fables}}''. Only so many could leave so the commander had the women, children and non-human sentients go first. The rest of the spaces were done by lottery. Well known characters, such as Robin Hood and Friar Tuck make their last stand, taking as many of the bastards as with them as possible. This barely even -works-, fortunately the Nine Crow brothers (down to seven) were flying aerial support. Four more die allowing the refugees to escape to Earth.* {{Superman}} a number of times. The first was ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow'' then there was ''TheDeathOfSuperman.''* TheMightyThor. Bill, Born of Bills, went out like like a damn BEAST.** He was preceded in this trope by Skurge the Executioner, who made one of the most epic YouShallNotPass last stands in comic history. Made even more meaningful in that he's never truly been resurrected in the many years since.* In the ''GreenLantern'' BatFamilyCrossover ''ComicBook/LightsOut'', Relic's invasion of Oa is so fierce, the Lanterns have to [[spoiler:evacuate Oa before it explodes]]. The chapter the invasion take's place is even called "Oa's Last Stand".* In ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'' [[http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/4692081.html?view=150007153&posted=1#cmt150007153 issue 14, volume 1,]] a group of federal marshals, along with the super-powered prisoners they had been transporting, Black Canary, and Catwoman, were transported to Apokolips, where they were attacked by Darkseid's military forces. Stranded with no hope of rescue or escape, they resolve to make sure that the parademons know that they were in a fight. [[spoiler:Ultimately averted in that most of them survive and make it back to earth.]] [[LampshadedTrope Lampshaded with one of the most badass speeches ever]]:-->They might overrun us. They might beat us. They might kill us. But they'll never forget us.* The ending of ''Secret Six'' has the team making a last stand against an army of superheroes. [[spoiler: They're all captured with the last shot of the series showing a battered and bruised Bane being dragged off to Arkham Asylum.]][[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]* A particularly somber example is [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/109581/1/i-did-not-want-to-die/i-did-not-want-to-die I Did Not Want To Die.]]* [[spoiler:Renust Nju]] talks about these when he fights Padmé in the ''FanFic/JediPadmeTrilogy''.%% * ''Fanfic/DumbledoresArmyAndTheYearOfDarkness'' is a long build-up to what is fully expected to be a Last Stand by the Hogwarts students against Lord Voldemort.* In [[FanFic/EquestriaAHistoryRevealed Equestria: A History Revealed]], Princess Luna does this with her remaining Nightmare forces in the Battle of the Everfree forces. Knowing the war is lost, she personally sits this one out as she orders her armies to take out as many of Celestia's forces as possible. It ends with most of her forces dead or fleeing to be captured later.* ''Fanfic/TheTSABActurusWar'' has [[spoiler: the ''Sacred War'' holding off a large number of TSAB vessels by doing ExplosiveOverclocking on its [[WaveMotionGun relativistic particle cannon]].]]* ''FanFic/TheImmortalGame'': The [[FinalBattle Battle of the Everfree]] is an interesting play on this trope. By this point, [[BigBad Titan]] has lost all of his top lieutenants and his ability to create [[{{Mooks}} Puppets]], and the [[LaResistance Loyalists]] are [[StormingTheCastle assaulting his Citadel]]. However, he still controls the monsters of the forest, which all combined vastly outnumber the decimated Loyalists. On top of that, he's preparing to enact a spell that will [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill strip the world of its free will]], so Twilight and the others know that they have to finish the war with this last battle, or they lose everything. So really, in a way it's a Last Stand for ''both'' sides.* In the ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'', this is how the [[BadFuture Dark World]] version of Cadence went down. Having long since become the new Queen of the changelings and acted as RebelLeader against [[BigBad Discord]], her base is finally overrun by him and his enforcers, the [[BrainwashedAndCrazy discorded Mane Six]]. In order to [[YouShallNotPass buy time]] for her subjects to escape, she names a successor before proceeding to fight all six {{Villain Protagonist}}s and ''kicking their asses'' before [[spoiler: Discord literally stabs her in the back and]] she dies. While she lost, she still managed to succeed in her goal to protect her people (since they're still around five centuries later).* Every combatant in the ''FanFic/TamersForeverSeries''- willingly or not- is forced to make a last stand against [[spoiler: Daemon]]'s forces during the final chapters of ''Silent Sorrow''.* In the titular future of HarryPotterAndTheNightmaresOfFuturesPast, when Voldemort is taking over and everything is going to hell, Voldemort's forces mass against Azkaban. Mad-Eye Moody breaks past the sentries and rallies the vastly-outnumbered guards against Voldemort. They held the fortress for twenty-two days, and killed so many of Voldemort's followers that afterwards a captive of the Death Eaters could earn a quick death by shouting "Constant vigilance!" at their captors.* ''Fanfic/{{Eugenesis}}'' has Kup holding the rear and buying time for the rest of the Autobots to escape an oncoming horde of Sharkticons. Only he's not doing it to be heroic, he just can't [[DrivenToSuicide take anymore]]. We later get a [[SarcasmMode lovely]] description of what's left of him once the Sharkticons are done.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]* ''Anime/FinalFantasyTheSpiritsWithin'' has this when [[spoiler: Ryan Whittaker]] is pinned down in the wreckage of a vehicle. He insists to be left behind, and assists the rest of the group's getaway from afar with a large rifle until the phantoms claim him.* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'': Faced with a hopeless battle against the Green Death, Stoick orders his people to the far side of the island while he faces the giant dragon alone:-->'''Stoick''': Gobber, go with the men.\\'''Gobber''': I think I'll stay, just in case you're thinking of doing something crazy.\\'''Stoick''': I can buy them a few minutes if I give that thing something to hunt!\\'''Gobber''': Then I can double that time.* {{Invoked|Trope}} by StoicWoobie Blackavar the rabbit in ''WesternAnimation/WatershipDown'' when it seems their GreatEscape has been cut off. Foreshadowing the bloodiest death in the movie, when [[spoiler:Blackavar]] goes on a DyingMomentOfAwesome by staying behind and [[SelfDestructiveCharge attacking General Woundwort]] (that wasn't in the book.)--> It nearly came off... We'll take one or two of them with us before the end![[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]* ''Film/ThreeHundred'': "Give them nothing! But take from them everything! Tonight we dine in hell!"* The climactic battle in ''Film/TheLastSamurai'' is one.* Almost every zombie movie has a not-yet-turned infectee left behind to do one of these (e.g. [[spoiler:Ed in the basement of the Winchester]] in ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'').* In ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' the Rebels go along with the idea of charging the Imperial fleet entrapping them at the Battle of Endor. The idea was that they were buying time so Han's team could knock out the Death Star's shield generator, as well as making it harder for the Death Star to one-shot their cruisers without risking some Imperial ships. Plan B, assuming they couldn't buy enough time or Han was already dead, was to damage the Imperial war machine as badly as they could in a Last Stand (with an option on punching a hole through the blockade so at least some ships could escape).* Invoked in ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven''. Balian threatens Saladin by saying that if his men have to make a Last Stand, they would kill ten Saracens for every Christian Knight. Saladin immediately offers generous terms that would allow Balian to peacefully evacuate Jerusalem, which Balian accepts.** Averted, though, in that Saladin has no interest in a fight to the death, and he isn't so much intimidated by Balian's [[HonorBeforeReason senseless bravado]] as he is ''amused'' by it. Consider that when Balian threatens to burn the entire city to the ground, Saladin grins and whispers, "I wonder if it would not be better if you did."*** Of course, Balian's only real goal is to get the people out alive and relatively unharmed. The bravado is meant to convince Saladin that letting them surrender is a better idea than forcing a Last Stand scenario. Balian misinterprets Saladin's intentions, thinking that he wants the Christians all massacred rather than to retake the city in order to appease his followers. And in revenge for the horrors the Christians inflicted when they laid siege to the city before.* In Alatriste final scene the Tercio Español decides not to surrender even when they are as screwed as they can be.* ''Film/{{Scarface 1983}}'': "Say hello to my little friend!"* ''Film/{{Zulu}}''. Based on historical events and rivaling ''Film/ThreeHundred'' in raw badassitude. Peter Jackson specifically references Zulu in the commentary for The Two Towers, when referring to Helm's Deep. It's made even more badass by the fact that it's a rare last stand that succeeds.* The last portion of the climactic three-way battle in ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' looks like one of these (along with [[YouShallNotPass buying some time]] for Mal's transmission), up until the point where [[spoiler: [[WaifFu River]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome takes out the Reavers. All of them]].]]* At the climax of ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'', the ravenous Kraken, that's kept Jack Sparrow running scared through the whole film, finally catches up. It's huge toothy maw opens, vomiting slime all over it's victim (incidentally also regurgitating his missing hat.) But with all hope gone, Jack's fear vanishes too. He calmly replaces said headgear and, with a maniacal smile and eye gleam, growls "Hello, beastie!", draws his sword and charges. This CrowningMomentofAwesome is all the more impressive since Jack knows he has no witnesses. It's a moment of insanity, clarity, and raw courage all at once.* ''Film/GranTorino'', when Eastwood's character goes to confront the gang. Unique in that [[spoiler:he came unarmed.]]* ''Film/{{Sahara}}'', both the Bogart and the Belushi versions.* PFC Hudson, Bill Paxton's memorable character from ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' started out as a [[MilesGloriosus self-proclaimed "ultimate badass"]], before [[DoomedDefeatist giving us the quote "Game over, man! Game over!"]]. However, at the very end, when the Aliens burst in the complex and the few survivors are in a very bad position, Hudson's response is to flip out and go down fighting. Pretty badass for somebody who five minutes ago was panicking.** When the Marines first enter the complex, one of them name drops the trope after observing the Colonists' breached defenses.* Subverted in ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'' [[spoiler: Tallahassee goes into the booth at Pacific Playland, surrounded by Zombies for what seems to be a last stand. He is later seen to be [[BadAss totally unharmed.]]]]* ''Film/TheWildBunch'' ends with the gang deciding to save their friend, but as such has to face off an entire Mexican garrison.* [[spoiler:Wikus does this in the MiniMecha]] at the end of ''Film/{{District 9}}''.* In the 1930 German film ''Die letzte Kompagnie'' (The Last Company), Conrad Veidt is a captain who after [[NapoleonicWars the defeat of Jena and Auerstedt]] (1806) tries to buy time for the Prussian army to make an orderly retreat by defending a mill against the advancing French with the last twelve men of his company. They all die, as does the miller's daughter who fell in love with him.* Many movies based on the siege of the Alamo and "Custers Last Stand".** There's also the choice of who stays and who goes. In the John Wayne movie "The Alamo" the women and children are give safe passage. The men will stay and fight to the death. Someone suggests that Jocko be allowed to go since his wife, Nell, is blind and who will protect and support her? Then Nell steps forward (pretty brave for a blind person with all the horses) and says "Oh, no you don't! Why Jocko is more of a man than any of you and you can't send him away like that. He has the same right as you to stay and fight." And, no, despite what you might expect, Jocko doesn't wang her on the head with a shovel and explain she's having one of her spells. No, Jocko, volunteered by his wife, stays and dies.%%* ''FortApache''.* Averted in ''Literature/TheLastOfTheMohicans'' : At TheSiege of Fort William Henry, there's [[MoralDilemma no solution for colonel Munroe]], between [[HonorBeforeReason dishonor]] and [[KillEmAll massacre]]. But, thanks to the Marquis de Montcalm, he finds [[TakeAThirdOption his way out]]...at least [[BeatStillMyHeart for a while]]* ''Film/TheGrey''. [[spoiler:Ottway stumbles into the wolves' den and, knowing he's going to die anyway, decides to go out fighting.]]** The after-credits scene shows [[spoiler:both Ottway and the alpha-wolf dead]].* In ''Literature/ForWhomTheBellTolls'' (and the novel) wounded Robert Jordan stays behind with a machine gun to hold off the advancing troops so the others (and the woman he loves) can escape.** However, it's also heavily [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] by El Sordo's death earlier in the story. After being tracked down by nationalist cavalry, him and his band of guerillas are eventually cornered on top of a hill. At first it seems that they're set up to [[TakingYouWithMe bring as many of them down as possible]] (and that is Sordo's intention), but they're denied the opportunity when the nationalists simply [[KillEmAll kill them all]] [[MundaneSolution with an airstrike.]] An aversion to WarIsGlorious if there ever was one.* In ''Garden of Evil'' two men and a woman (the last survivors of their party) are escaping and one man stays behind to hold them off. When the woman asks why anyone has to make this sacrifice she's told "Because ''someone'' has to do it. Someone has to stay behind and make sure the job gets done."* Nearly happens in ''Film/JohnCarter'', where the titular character, his LoveInterest, and a friend are being chased by a horde of [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Tharks]]. In a scene of epic {{badass}}ery, he tells his friend to grab the LoveInterest (an ActionGirl herself) and take her to safety, while he along holds off the horde (although [[AllAnimalsAreDogs Woola]] chooses to stay). He then [[InASingleBound jumps]] into the fray and starts hacking at the Tharks, killing dozens of them until they finally just pile on top of him. He only survives because a Helium airship arrives to scare off the surviving Tharks and provide immediate medical help. The scene is all the more memorable because it's overlayed with his memories of coming back from the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar to find his wife and daughter dead and burying their bodies.--> '''John Carter:''' I was too late once, I won't be again.* The end of ''Film/TheSandPebbles'' has Jake Holman staying behind, pretending to be an entire squad, to cover the escape of his companions.* ''Film/IndependenceDay'' is a big one. In fact, this trope seemed to be largely the premise of the entire film.-->"We will not go quietly into the night...we will not vanish without a fight! We are going to live on! We are going to survive! Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!"* From the ''Film/LordOfTheRings'' comes this speech:-->[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome A day may come]] when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you [[PunctuatedForEmphasis STAND! MEN! OF THE WEST!]]* Jason Nesmith/"Peter Quincy Taggart" in ''Film/GalaxyQuest'' is, if less eloquent, much more succinct: "Never give up -- Never surrender!" Though when he actually ''means'' it, it's not the ''human'' race that's in danger, but the Thermians.* A general tries to invoke this in ''Film/MarsAttacks'', even quoting Churchill. [[SedgwickSpeech He is unceremoniously killed]].* ''Film/PacificRim'' has the governments putting their differences aside, pooling their resources and start creating Jaegers to fight the Kaiju. The general attitude is summed up nicely in the prequel comic by [[AwesomeMcCoolName Stacker Pentecost]]:--> "I've never believed in the End Times. We are [[HumanityIsSuperior mankind]]. Our ''footprints'' are on the moon. [[Literature/TheBible When the last trumpet sounds and the Beast rises from the pit]] -- we will '''[[BadassBoast kill]]''' it."[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]* This sort of thing happens a LOT in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' (see the Tabletop section for more). CrapsackWorld, and all that.* Commissar Literature/CiaphasCain, '''Hero of the Imperium''', is unusually privileged in having had ''[[SubvertedTrope two]]'' official Last Stands, and at the same place! It really bugs him that people keep calling them that, too.* At the end of Creator/BenCounter's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} HorusHeresy'' novel ''Galaxy in Flames'', the [[spoiler:betrayed Space Marines]] know they can not escape [[spoiler:the planet on which they had been virus-bombed]]. So they set out to make defeating them as costly as possible. [[spoiler:Loken and Torgaddon leave the rest because they have a chance to kill the other members of the Mournivale, which would hurt Horus; when Tarvitz says they may not meet again, Loken is certain that there is no "may" about it. And when the ''[[HumongousMecha Dies Irae]]'' comes into play, Tarvitz tells Vipes to kill Space Marines, because they can not damage that machine.]]* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' novel ''Literature/GreyKnights'', Justicar Alaric and a small team of his Grey Knights were about to face one of the most terrible daemons in the galaxy. In fact, it was one so terrible that it once massacred over 300 Grey Knights in one battle. To inspire his men:-->''We do not know what our chances of survival are, so we fight as if they were zero. We do not know what we are facing, so we fight as if it was the dark gods themselves. [[WhatYouAreInTheDark No one will remember us now]] and [[DueToTheDead we may never be buried beneath Titan, so we will build our own memorial here]]. The Chapter might lose us and the Imperium might never know we existed, but the Enemy - the Enemy will know. The Enemy will remember. We will hurt it so badly that it will never forget us until the stars burn out and the Emperor vanquishes it at the end of time. When Chaos is dying, its last thought will be of us. That is our memorial -carved into the heart of Chaos. We cannot lose, Grey Knights. We have already won.''* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novel ''Sabbat Martyr'', one squad of Ghosts return too late and see the gates closing on them. Their leader gives order to fight. They kill over a hundred enemy before their deaths, even though [[WhatYouAreInTheDark no one will ever know]].-->''Nineteenth [Platoon] lasted seventeen minutes from the time the gates closed. They accounted for one-hundred and eighty nine enemy casualties. No one witnessed their heroism.''** In ''Only In Death'', when [[spoiler:they are running out of ammunition]], Rawne gives the order [[spoiler:to fight with knives and takes as many as they can.]]** In ''Necropolis'', the entire defense of Vervunhive is based around this trope - even the civilians get in on it, digging in and generally wreaking havoc among the attacking Ferrozoicans. [[spoiler: Only a last-ditch counterattack, which [[InstantWinCondition manages to kill]] [[BigBad Heritor Asphodel]]]], stops the Zoicans from winning, although not long after that the Imperial Navy, several squads of Space Marines, some Titans, and a massive reinforcement army of Imperial Guard arrive. [[spoiler: In the end, the hive is ''still'' [[PyrrhicVictory too badly damaged, with too many dead]], to stay intact, [[DownerEnding and is officially decommissioned]]]].* In JamesSwallow's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' novel ''[[Literature/BloodAngels Deus Encarmine]]'', in the opening, the Blood Angels are convinced after the death of their captain that they are fighting a last stand. A brief surcease is followed by an even more devastating attack; they must give up the port they were defending, and one is so dispirited that only the suggestion that he [[DrivenToSuicide kill himself]] stiffens his resolve to fight on.** Later, Iskavan learns that his forces were [[WeHaveReserves thrown away]] as TheBait. He sets out to slaughter as many as he can before death ([[MoralEventHorizon starting with]] [[MenAreTheExpendableGender women]], [[ChildrenAreInnocent children]], and [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown the wounded]]). Unusually, he goes to aggressive attack. Then, he knows a way to destroy the planet [[spoiler:if he had succeeded]].* In Chris Roberson's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} BloodRavens'' novel ''Dawn of War II'', the defense against the tyrannids looks like a Last Stand by the end [[spoiler:and to nearly the very end when TheCavalry arrives]].* In Creator/BenCounter's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' story "Words of Blood", Athellenas orders repeated retreats and has to threaten Valerian who objects to the dishonor, preferring a Last Stand. [[spoiler:Turns about that Athellenas had worked out how to provoke an EnemyCivilWar.]]* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' Imperial Guard novel ''Cadian Blood'', the Cadian forces are unimpressed by the Last Stand of some NewMeat: they can tell by where the bodies fell. [[spoiler:Later, Seth makes a more impressive Last Stand in the BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, and though the daemon kills him, he dies laughing and saying the look at the daemon's face made the fight worth it.]]* In Henry Zhou's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' novel ''The Emperor's Mercy'', Imperial Guardsmen are surrounded by Chaos forces and are fighting on, despite dying of hunger and disease. Roth tells Celemine that they had no choice but to stay with them. The commander hears and instantly wants to fight a last charge: they can get them to their ship and [[YouShallNotPass hold off the enemy]] -- and that way, they can [[FamedInStory be remembered]]. (They are. In fact, their eighteen minutes defense of the ship is immortalized in a mural ''on Terra''.)* In Steve Parker's novel ''Gunheads'', the 98th is staging a Last Stand -- the colonel refused to try to escape and went to hold up their regimental banner to encourage them -- when the Gunheads arrive. ([[TheMenFirst The colonel is perfectly willing to escape if the tanks can open up a corridor where his men can escape]].)* In Chris Roberson's ''ImperialFists'' novel ''Sons of Dorn'', Captain Taelos starts to tell the surviving Scouts and sergeant that he is SoProudOfYou in preparation for a force they can not overcome -- when TheCavalry arrives.* In ''Legion of the Damned'' a half-strength company of Space Marines is making a desperate Last Stand against an entire Chaos Blood Crusade. They are supported by a few units of the local planetary defense force and a few thousand untrained civilians. The attacking force consists of an army of crazed cultists, mercenary units led by Chaos Space Marines and horrifying warp demons. However, this Last Stand is really a ThanatosGambit. Once the defenders are all dead, the Chaos army might leave the planet before discovering where the women and children are hiding.* The Acoma warriors in ''TheRiftwarCycle'' (specifically, ''XXX of the Empire'') say this a lot.* There are several in Creator/JRRTolkien's [[Literature/LordOfTheRings ''Lord of the Rings''.]]** At the very beginning of ''The Two Towers,'' Boromir has a last stand. [[ItWasHisSled (Or is that a spoiler?)]] A variation, in that it takes place off-screen: the fight itself is left entirely to the reader's imagination.--->''...Aragorn saw that he was pierced with many black-feathered arrows; his sword was still in his hand, but it was broken near the hilt; his horn cloven in two was at his side. Many Orcs lay slain, piled all about him and at his feet...''** Later in ''The Two Towers'', Aragorn convinces Théoden and the last remaining Rohirrim defending Helm's Deep to ride out with him against [[TheHorde thousands of Uruk-hai]] in a glorious last charge. [[spoiler: They are saved by Gandalf and either Erkenbrand (book) or Éomer (movie) leading TheCavalry.]]*** This is a regular motif for Théoden...he keeps wanting to die in battle, taking so many of the orcs with him that his people will become the Ghouls in the Night for little orc children once Mordor has taken everything over.--->'''Théoden:''' "If this is to be our end, let us make such an end that they quake at night at our memory!"** In ''The Return of the King,'' the Mouth of Sauron's claim that Frodo and Sam have been captured leads Aragorn and his army to firmly believe themselves to be fighting a last stand.** In ''TheSilmarillion'', Húrin makes his Last Stand at the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. Out of the bodyguard of Gothmog, Lord of the Balrogs, 70 trolls were killed by Húrin before he was overborne by an endless supply of cheaper orcs and taken away to a FateWorseThanDeath.*** The fall of Gondolin and the demise of High King Turgon. Amongst the few escapees are Tuor, Idril, and their young son Eärendil.* Creator/JRRTolkien's ''The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son'' recounts the efforts of some characters to locate the lord's body among his slaughtered guard. Based on an Old English fragment about the Battle of Maldon, recounting how the guard had refused to retreat when their lord died.* The Old English poem ''Literature/TheBattleOfMaldon'' itself.* The ''[[{{Mithgar}} Iron Tower trilogy]]'' gives us the Battle of Challerain Keep, the ripoff of the Battle of Pelennor Fields from ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'', in which almost all of the good guys are massacred trying to hold the city built up on a hill. About four important characters escape to make the Sauron-ripoff regret messing with them.* Quoth [[StarWars Wedge Antilles]]: "While I don't think I can hold Borleias, I might be able to make it a name that causes little Vong children to whimper." And then he ''can''. And for his next trick, he actually [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome evacuates the majority of the Borleias garrison]] before things finish going to hell.* [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Ganner Rhysode]] in ''[[NewJediOrder Traitor]]'': Holding off an entire army of the Yuuzhan Vong single-handedly with nothing but [[spoiler:Anakin Solo's lightsaber]] to aid him -- and finally [[spoiler:pulling down the building around him to take out the rest of the army, including their tank. This earned him a statue among the Yuuzhan Vong that was placed next to the statues of their gods, and he became immortalized in their mythology as "The Ganner", a guardian of the dead who kept the spirits from returning to life. This statue, though it belonged to the Vong, bore an inscription in Basic that simply read "[[YouShallNotPass NONE SHALL PASS]]".]]* In JackCampbell's ''TheLostFleet'' novel ''Invincible'', the bear-cows when the Marines take their ship.* Creator/DavidGemmell's novel ''Legend'' features an army of 10,000 half- as a trained peasants and outlaws attempting to hold a six walled city while being attacked by a professional army of 500,000. If they can hold out for three months, the kingdom may be saved from the enemy. The names of the six walls pretty much tells the tale. "Exultation," "Despair," "Renewed Hope," "Desperation," "Serenity," and "Death."* In Creator/CSLewis's ''TheLastBattle'', the protagonists prefer this to the Calormene offer of slavery for some and HumanSacrifice for others.** In ''TheHorseAndHisBoy'' when the Narnians discuss escaping the city, the [[CleverCrows raven]] says that these sound all very well in story but in reality, after the first attacks are repulsed, the enemy sets fire to the house.* The revolutionaries have a pretty impressive one in ''Literature/LesMiserables''.* The defense of the Russian embassy from a huge angry mob in ''TheDeathOfTheVazirMukhtar''. [=CMoAs=] for all (except for the guy who lives).* ''Literature/TheSongOfRoland''* In the Creator/AndrewVachss Burke book ''Terminal'', [[spoiler: the Prof, badly injured by a sniper, prepares to do one of these. However, Burke's crew manages to get him out of there before anything happens.]]* This is almost the standard operating procedure of Literature/{{Bolo}}s. Any force strong enough to threaten one is overwhelmingly strong in comparison to a human; the Bolos are programmed to protect human beings, so they are often left to cover the meatbag's retreat, and a 32000 tonne moving mountain of metal armed with multi-megaton nuclear beam cannons is as much of a target as it is a threat.* Bjakamál, last stand of Rolf Krake's hird is a stirring poem based on an unknown 5th-6th century struggle in Denmark, it was recited by Olav Haraldssons (Digre/Fat) Skjald before the Battle of Stiklestad (1030) where he fell and became Olav the Holy to strengthen the resolve of the Royalist army. The Song of the Battle at Maeldon could be added here as well, though that is definitely a RL event.* ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'': ''Literature/MemoriesOfIce'', the third book, during the Siege of Capustan. [[spoiler: Gruntle and his 'troops' (recruited from pissed off/scared citizens and routed soldiers) holding out on top of multi-story apartment building, to the point that the building itself is breaking apart from all of the bodies and blood bloating inside of it, and the Tenescowri made a ramp of their dead to get to the top.]]%%* Tracy Hickman's ''Franchise/{{Starcraft}}'' novel ''Speed of Darkness'' ends on this note.* In the backstory of Steve Perry's ''[[Literature/MatadorSeries The Man Who Never Missed]]'', Lord Thomas Reserve Shamba replied to a surrender demand with the message: "To the Commander, Confederation Jumptroopers. Sir: Fuck you. We stand until the last man falls."* When the [[PrivateMilitaryContractors title unit]] of John Dalmas' ''The Regiment'' faces this situation, the captain who's now in acting command gives the trumpeters the order, "Sound the dirge, then the attack."--> The trumpet call was something Varlik had never heard before. Not mournful. Not even solemn. Not like any dirge he'd heard or imagined. More like a fanfare--a fanfare on two trumpets, an announcement of death without regret. Then abruptly it changed, became an exultant battlecry, quick-paced, and the T'swa nearby rose up, rifles in hand, bayonets fixed, the captain vaulting over the fallen tree. The trumpets were almost drowned out by the sudden shattering roar of gunfire.* The fort "Charhan's Despair" in David Weber's ''[[Literature/TheWarGods The War God's Own]]'' is named for a warlord who made his stand there against an invading army. [[ThisIsGonnaSuck And guess where the heroes are making theirs?]]* In Creator/RobertEHoward's ''ConanTheBarbarian'' story "Literature/AWitchShallBeBorn", the fate of the palace guard.-->''The guards were fully armed and drawn up in a square, but there were only five hundred of them. They took a heavy toll before they were cut down, but there could be only one conclusion to such a battle.''* In Poul Anderson's ''Literature/AMidsummerTempest'', Rupert goes to join his king in hopes of helping him, and if it fails, for this trope.* Quite a few people have done or attempted this sort of thing in the course of the ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' series. Famous examples include Khan Natasha Kerensky holding off the Jade Falcons on Twycross (invoked deliberately--as a Khan of the their hated rivals, Clan Wolf, she had made herself into a high priority target to get the rest of her force away), and Aidan Pryde decimating the Com Guards on Tukayyid (more traditionally, he held the line to allow his unit to escape the battle, and for his only recently revealed daughter to be rescued).* In the ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime Wheel of Time]]'':** The last Stand of [[http://library.tarvalon.net/index.php?title=Manetheren#The_Trolloc_Wars Manetheren]]** [[spoiler: Ingtar]] in Falme.** The [[spoiler: Kandori]] defenders all along the Blight when the Shadowspawn flood south.*** And a ton of successful ones where the "stander" survives: [[spoiler: Loial]] in the Stone, [[spoiler: the people of Emonds Field]], the [[spoiler: Malkieri]] at the start of Tarmon Gaidon, the whole forces of the Light at [[spoiler: Merrilor]] and a couple more.* When the Toralii board the ''Beijing'' in ''Literature/{{Lacuna}}'', Liao has her sailors stage a last stand in the Operations room.* At the very beginning of "They Were Expendable" the author explains what that word means. Your commander gives you a machine gun and tells you to hold off the people chasing them. You ask how long and he says, it's not how long, just do it. The machine gun, and the soldier, are being sacrificed to give the others a chance to escape.* Subverted in ''The Goblin Corps'': the protagonists are sent away on a mission deep within enemy territory, and return to find their entire kingdom lost. However, [[spoiler:this was the Charnel King's plan all along - his "last stand" had an escape clause no one else knew about.]]* In Creator/JasperFforde's ''Literature/TheLastDragonslayer'', the Duke of Brecon is convinced his duchy will have one after the last dragon dies. [[InItsHourOfNeed He personally intends to die with the soldiers.]]* In JackCampbell's Literature/TheLostStars novel ''Tarnished Knight'', the ISS forces always do this rather than face the people they tormented. One who attempts surrender is "accidentally" killed.* Sun Tzu's military treatise, ''TheArtOfWar'', descibes the actual military implications of a last stand situation, or as he put it 'being on deadly ground'. He states this can actually be an advantage to a trapped or hopeless army, as they're given only two options: fight harder than they've ever fought in their lives, or die. This means that an army will typically fight at its absolute hardest when they're making a last stand. As a result, he advises against putting an enemy in this position. Rather, one should always give the enemy the opportunity to run away.* In the second book of the ''{{Literature/Gone}}'' series, ''Hunger'', a girl named Brittney tries to hold down against four Freak mutants. To wit, Britney is a normal, and a random RedShirt as well. The mutants are a [[GeniusBruiser very strong and very smart child]], a [[CombatSadomasochist boy with a whip for an arm and a serious case of sadism]], [[MindOverMatter one of the two most powerful Mutants in the FAYZ with psychic abilities able to throw cars half a mile away]]. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And the fourth is just a random with no real combat skills.]]* In the NUMASeries book ''Sahara'', Dirk and the UN team have one at Fort Foreau against attacking Malian forces.* There are a few of these in the [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]]:** Hile Troy's army puts up a series of them, finally taking a stand against a far superior force with their backs to a sentient forest that ''eats anyone who enters''.** Lord Mhoram attempts to break a siege by riding out alone to try to reach and kill the Raver leading the enemy army.* In Creator/AndreyLivadny's ''TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'' series, several novels end with this. Some result in the deaths of protagonists. The novel ''Dabog'' is particularly notable as it involves a group of volunteers jacking into the titular planet's missile defense network instead of boarding evacuation ships in order to buy time for said ships to run the [[TheEmpire Earth Alliance]] blockade, knowing that their eventual fate is to be nuked by the angry admiral whose attempts to take the planet failed. Given that the colonists are the ones who eventually win the drawn out war, the memory of Dabog (which even centuries later remains uninhabitable) and those who fell defending it is still strong. In the novel ''Black Moon'', one of the [[SpaceIsCold frozen]] defenders of Dabog is revived and arrives to a battle between two Confederate fleets. He announces himself over radio as belonging to the Dabog defense forces... and the battle stops on the spot.* In the StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel appropriately titled ''The Last Stand'', the ''Enterprise'' encounters a pre-warp race descended from the survivors the Lethanta who have fled their homeworld after it was nuked by their neighbors the Kreen (the Lethanta previous enslaved the Kreen who revolted but were then nearly wiped out by a plague for which they blamed the Lethanta). After centuries of fleeing in modified asteroids, the Lethanta have settled on a world they called Nem Ma'ak Bratuna ("the last stand" in their language). At the same time as the ''Enteprirse'', the Kreen arrive in a large sublight fleet having been following their enemies and building up their forces for a final strike. However, the Lethanta have prepared a doomsday device that will cause a nova-level event wiping out everything in the system (they have previously sent a group of their people away in those same asteroids).* From Creator/FredSaberhagen's ''Literature/{{Berserker}}'' universe: "When they came, you [humans] were waiting and dug in on a hundred worlds. Because you were, some of you and some of us are now alive." The alien narrator also comments on his race's perception that humanity had suffered war for its entire history, against the day when nothing less would serve for the survival of all life.* In the novel ''Literature/{{Footfall}}'' by Creator/LarryNiven and Jerry Pournelle, it's not so much that the humans can't be made to surrender -- it's that they won't ''stay'' surrendered, which confuses and freaks out the alien invaders.* ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' by Creator/HGWells, especially the attack of the torpedo ram HMS Thunder Child against the Martian machines. The 1953 [[Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds1953 movie version]] had the following lines: "The redoubtable Finnish and Turkish armies, Chinese battalions and Bolivians worked and fought furiously... The people of Britain met the invaders magnificently, but it was unavailing."* ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' has one really good example in "Long Patrol"** Rockjaw Grang one of eponymous hares is speared through the middle when he's trying to buy time for his comrades Tammo and Midge Manycoats to escape the Rapscallions. What does he do? Why rip it out and take as many vermin with him as he can.*** The last line Brian Jacques wrote about him is as follows.**** "He bought the time for his friends to escape safely, for even within sight of Dark Forest gates, Rockjaw Grang was a perilous hare."* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' has several examples of this throughout the series, and it could be said that the entire premise was at least partly based on this trope.** Indeed, even the aliens acknowledge this: one major difference between Yeerks and humans is that Yeerks will give up if they know they're going to lose, while humans won't. Some, like the Yeerk that controlled Jake or Visser Three, think this is basically pointless, but Visser One was smart enough to realize this would make conquering humans a harder task to accomplish.** Stated almost flat-out by one of Visser One's hosts:---> Allison: "You think you know us. You know nothing. You’ve seen the world through the eyes of a defeated soldier and a junkie bimbo. You know nothing. We’ll defeat you, Edriss."** From Ax's "Earth Diary": "''Give me liberty, or give me death.'' A human named Patrick Henry said that. I wonder if, when the Yeerks invaded, they knew humans said things like that. I wonder if they truly knew what they were getting into."* E.E. Knight's ''Literature/TheVampireEarth'' series has a heavy dose of this, at least when it comes to the humans that aren't [[TheQuisling Quislings]].* This is on a smaller scale, but still significant, in ''Literature/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers''. [[spoiler:Over and over, individuals and small groups figured out what was going on. Over and over, they were captured and replaced. Yet more keep cluing in and trying to sabotage the invasion, until the aliens eventually give up and go home as the protagonist quotes Churchill]]. Sadly, the movie replaces it with a DownerEnding.* In Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''[[Literature/VorkosiganSaga Memory]]'', Miles repeats a joke about his ancestors: that when they were invaded, they tried to surrender, but were so backwards they couldn't find anyone who could read the terms of the treaty, so they kept fighting and eventually won. This also sparks an epiphany as to which of his dual identities is the true him; because Admiral Naismith strove for victory, but Lord Vorkosigan could not surrender, so in the end Lord Vorkosigan was the persona he chose.* Princess Leia gets a speech like this in ''[[Literature/NewJediOrder Star by Star]]'', though admittedly its an entire ''galaxy'' she's encouraging to fight back against the evil invaders and not "just" the human race.* ''[[Literature/AlexBenedict The Devil's Eye]]'' by Jack [=McDevitt=]:** The president of a planet that has just discovered a possible world ending catastrophe is approaching, gives a speech about perseverance that ends with "And if our world should endure for a hundred million years, it will always be known that this was our finest hour." Alex Benedict is an archeologist/treasure hunter and is the only member of the cast familiar enough with history to realize that he is cribbing, and who from.** Earlier in the same book, the main characters had found a copy of Churchill's speeches in the president's personal library among ordinary books, and had commented it was a disgrace to see something so valuable sitting there unappreciated.* The Cynian army make a last stand against the Burgid horde in ''Literature/AnArmyOfTheDead''. They are killed to a man. [[spoiler:The entire army then gets [[AnimateDead resurrected]] as an army of [[ArmyOfTheDead unstoppable undead]] and proceed to CurbStomp their opponents.]]* In ''Literature/CodexAlera'' second book ''Academ's Fury'' Amara, Bernard, and other heroes are trapped by a powerful zerg-like creature called the Vord Queen. They have little in means of weapons and food. Their magic can be countered by those humans who were taken and now are zombie-like forces. Even with all the odds against them, they choose to make one final attack because they need to kill the Queen. If the Queen escapes, she can make two more in a short time and will not stop until all of the world is under their domain. [[spoiler:The fact they, sentient beings, would willingly choose death just to see her dead confounds the Queen, who has no such understanding. She can see the action but fails to understand why. This distraction is enough to finally kill her]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]* Any time [[Series/StargateSG1 SG-1]] goes to an alternate reality and it ''isn't'' a CrapsackWorld that tries to imprison/kill them, expect the alternate SG-1 to do this. As Sam Carter (in an alternate reality) elegantly put it, "I also wish to blow us all to hell," just before dropping a live hand-grenade. [[ExpendableAlternateUniverse But then again, we don't really care about any reality but ours.]]** Notably averted in the season 2 premiere. O'Neill has just disabled the ''Ha'tak's'' shields with a grenade to the generator.---> '''O'Neill:''' What now?\\'''Bra'tac:''' Now we die.\\'''O'Neill:''' Well, that's a bad plan. Where's the glider bay?* Two Starships ''[[CoolStarship Enterprise]]'' from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' from the episode "Yesterday's Enterprise". The first is the displaced ''USS Enterprise-C'' under Capt. Garrett, which is doomed to be destroyed defending a Klingon outpost from Romulans. Then there's the alternate ''Enterprise-D'' under Capt. Picard which has to allow itself to be destroyed by Klingons so that the first ''Enterprise'' can make its move.** Picard's PreAsskickingOneLiner in that timeline was pure epic win:-->'''Jean Luc Picard''': Let's make sure that history never forgets... the name... '''''Enterprise'''''.*** Followed by his defiant "That'll be the day" as he takes over the tactical station for a dead officer when the Klingons inflict massive damage and order them to surrender.** An alternate NX-01 ''Enterprise'' does this in order to reverse a timeline in which humanity is destroyed in the ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "Twilight".** The GrandFinale for ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' has a doozy. With Cardassia changing sides mid-battle, the rebellion working its way to the capital, and the Federation, Klingons and Romulans on the Dominion's doorstep, what does the Female Changeling do? She orders her troops to go across Cardassia and [[MoralEventHorizon kill every last man, woman and child.]] Then, she orders the remaining forces to form a wall around Cardassia, intending to bleed all three powers dry. [[spoiler:It takes Odo linking with her to finally get her to give up.]]-->'''Female Changeling:''' I think they'll find the cost of victory very high indeed…* ''Series/{{Angel}}'''s finale is a Last Stand against hordes of demons.-->'''Gunn''': OK, you take the thirty thousand on the left...\\'''Illyria''': You're fading... you'll last ten minutes at best.\\'''Gunn''': Then let's make it memorable.\\'''Spike''': And in terms of a plan?\\'''Angel''': We fight.\\'''Spike''': Bit more specific?\\'''Angel''': Personally, I kinda want to slay the dragon. Let's go to work.* A recurring theme in ''{{Lexx}}'', starting with the opening scene of the first episode.** The fan-beloved Brunnen-G Fight Song was traditionally sung by the [[WarriorPoet Brunen-G]] on just such occasions: a hopeless battle which is being fought anyway because it's better to go out fighting than to give in to despair. The last line translates to "We will fight AND die, forever Brunnen-G"* In ''TheWire'' we have [[spoiler:Bodie when Chris and Snoop come to kill him for snitching. Unfortunately he's killed by a guy who comes up behind. But he dies fighting like a true soldier in his own DyingMomentOfAwesome.]]--> [[spoiler:'''Bodie:''' Yo this is my corner, I ain't runnin nowhere.]]* ''Series/BlakesSeven: Gauda Prime''. Avon realizes the others are dead, Blake himself is dead by his own hand, and he's surrounded by Federation troops...He put on his best SlasherSmile and raises the gun one last time before the scene fades to black.* ''Series/RedDwarf'' has one in Out Of Time, which is a cliffhanger at the end of Series 6. The cast's future selves attack them (knowing they would also die) because they refuse to live as the current cast do, because they have become corrupt and seduced by power. They kill three of the characters, leaving only [[spoiler:Rimmer, the most cowardly and weasely one of the lot. He immediately sets off to destroy the time drive that allowed them to time travel and become corrupt in the first place, before Starbug is blown up in a last ditch move. Series 7 claims that it was the act of Starbug blowing up that meant the future selves couldn't attack them as they'd not exist. However, some people believe Rimmer was successful, so he can be a hero.]]* Jenny Shepard of {{NCIS}}, trapped in a diner with four Russian hitmen and the prospect of a painful death from a debilitating disease ahead of her...four against one doesn't look so bad when you have an incentive to not make it out alive. * Subverted [[SpartacusBloodAndSand Spartacus Vengeance]]: After fighting their way through a forest Spartacus, Mira, Naevia, and Nasir finally make it to Mount Vesuvius, only to hear an army approach them from behind. Nasir is too wounded to fight and Naevia is too [[BrokenBird traumatized]], so Spartacus tells Mira to take them and run. She refuses to abandon him, and the two prepare to make their final stand, only for the approaching forces to be revealed to be their own.* Both the classic and revived series of ''Series/DoctorWho'' often features variations on TheSiege plot, leading to numerous examples of these moments occurring when RedShirt characters end up performing a HeroicSacrifice. The Doctor and his companions can also attempt to perform these on occasion, although they (usually) tend to be averted.** During "The Parting of the Ways", Jack and the rest of Satellite 5 attempt a futile last stand to buy the Ninth Doctor time to complete a weapon that will wipe out the Daleks. Jack only survives after [[HumanoidAbomination Bad Wolf!Rose]] brings him back to life.** "The Name of the Doctor" reveals that the Doctor would ultimately die performing one at Trenzalore against countless armies. This nearly comes to pass in "The Time of the Doctor" when the Eleventh Doctor maintains the Siege of Trenzalore for ''centuries'' until he starts dying from extreme old age, revealing that he's lost the ability to regenerate because this was [[OutOfContinues his final body]]. [[spoiler: This fate is only narrowly averted by the Time Lords, who grant him a new regeneration cycle for [[{{Rewrite}} saving]] [[BackFromTheDead Gallifrey]] in "The Day of the Doctor"]].* Near the end of Day Four of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'': "Children of Earth", we're led to believe that this will happen. Then the trope is horribly, horribly subverted.* ''Series/BabylonFive'' movie ''In the Beginning'' has two such speeches, in regards to [[HopelessWar the war between humanity and the Minbari Federation]]:** The [[http://youtu.be/DeNBJ5o-b7s?t=1m19s first]] comes from a voiceover by Londo Mollari:--->The War. The humans, I think, knew they were doomed. Where another race would surrender to despair, the humans fought back with greater strength. They made the Minbari fight for every inch of space. In my life, I have never seen anything like it; They would weep, they would pray, they would say goodbye to their loved ones, and then throw themselves without fear or hesitation at the very face of death itself, never surrendering. No one who saw them fighting against the inevitable could help but be moved to tears by their courage. Their stubborn nobility. When they ran out of ships, they used guns, when they ran out guns they used knives and sticks and bare hands. They were magnificent. I only hope that when it is my time, I may die with half as much dignity as I saw in their eyes in the end. They did this for ''two years''; they never ran out of courage. But in the end, they ran out of ''time''.** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbBRrK9Q-rw second speech]] was delivered by the Earth Alliance president in the final hours of the conflict:--->'''Madam President:''' Are we on? This is... this is the President. I have just been informed that the midrange military bases at Beta Durani and Proxima 3 have fallen to the Minbari advance. We've lost contact with Io and must conclude that they too have fallen to an advance force. Our Military Intelligence believes that the Minbari intend to bypass Mars and hit Earth directly and the attack could come at any time. We have continued to broadcast our surrender and a plea for mercy and they have not responded. Therefore we can only conclude that we stand at the twilight of the human race. In order to buy time for our evacuation transports to leave Earth, we ask for the support of every ship capable of fighting to take part in a last defense of our home world. We will not lie to you, we do not believe that survival is a possibility. We believe that anyone who joins this battle will never come home. But for every ten minutes we can delay the military advance, several hundred more civilians may have a chance to escape to neutral territory. Though Earth may fall, the human race must have a chance to continue elsewhere. No greater sacrifice has ever been asked of a people. But I ask you now to step forward one last time, one last battle to hold the line against the night. May God go with you all.* ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond'' was all about this trope: humanity banding together against the evil "chigs". In the pilot, the Secretary-General of the United Nations makes a very Churchillian speech about "the coming storm", then quotes Churchill directly (the Battle of Britain "Never has so much been owed by so many to so few" speech) after the Wildcards' first major victory.* The ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' episode, "[[Recap/StargateAtlantisS01E07PoisoningTheWell Poisoning the Well]]," subverts this when the SG team helps the Hoffans develop a treatment to make them unpalatable to the Wraith. When it is discovered that not only does also kill Wraith who attempt to feed, but also kills 50% of those treated, the SG team are horrified to find that the Hoffans consider that acceptable even if the Wraith would likely strike against them as a threat. When the SG team leave in disgust, they mention it is reminiscent of the Churchillian spirit of victory at any price, but they are forced to disagree.* Subverted in the 2009 remake of ''Literature/TheDayOfTheTriffids''. Torrence sees himself in this light, often shown admiring statues or paintings of UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill, but he's just a sociopath with delusions of grandeur. The government he tries to establish in London after the world goes blind soon collapses under siege from the {{Man Eating Plant}}s.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]* One of the standard scenarios in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}''. 3rd edition actually had maps and paper counters for a scenario called "Fornerond's Last Stand," in which a High Elf force had been ambushed by greenskins.* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'''s setting gives everyone ample opportunities to die heroically, both on and off the tabletop. A 4th Edition scenario, typically the last mission in a campaign, revolved around one side's Last Stand; the defenders won if they had any surviving models at the end of the game, meaning they held out long enough to let their comrades escape, or that they killed enough of the enemy to have their names forever etched into their opponent's minds.** One famous example from the fluff is the Battle of Macragge, in which the Literature/{{Ultramarines}}' homeworld found itself facing the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranids]] of Hive Fleet Behemoth. The Ultramarines' 1st Company, comprised of the best warriors in the chapter, made their stand in a polar fortress. When reinforcements finally arrived, they had to clear the Tyranid corpses with flamethrowers, and eventually found the bodies of their battle-brothers in the heart of the fortress, [[BackToBackBadasses back-to-back]] and surrounded by walls of alien dead.*** The latest {{Space Marine}}s codex mentions that many chapters' histories feature such heroic last stands, [[HonorBeforeReason many of which were probably unnecessary]].** The rest of the truly famous examples all seem to revolve around Sisters of Battle for some reason - The Bloodtide, Sanctuary 101, Hive Tempestus, Shield of Baal...** The [[SpaceElves Eldar]] of [[GenerationShips Craftworld]] Iyanden were prepared to make one against Hive Fleet Kraken, but were saved by the [[TheCavalry timely arrival]] of the exiled [[SpacePirate Prince Yriel]]. It was a PyrrhicVictory, however - four-fifths of the Craftworld's population was dead, Prince Yriel doomed himself by taking up the cursed [[ArtifactOfDeath Spear of Twilight]], and Iyanden was forced to use the [[SoulJar spirit stones]] of the dead to field armies of Wraithguard to supplement their forces. To quote Yriel, "We may have won the battle, but our ancestors have lost their souls."** The [[RedshirtArmy Imperial Guard]] are particularly good at this. General Sturmm of ''DawnOfWar'' fame summed up a Guardsman's duty as "We die standing."** The Necrons actively avoid this, preferring to teleport away without a trace rather than lose a battle. In earlier editions this was even the army's AchillesHeel - once it had been reduced to a certain percentage of its starting models, the rest would phase out, giving the opponent the victory.** The [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Tau]] don't believe in Last Stands - [[BlueAndOrangeMorality unlike most of the other races]], Tau military dogma is highly mobile and considers the amount of territory controlled in a conflict to be meaningless compared to the armies that fight on it. Soldiers lost holding a position are therefore throwing their lives away for no reason, and a Tau commander who would commit himself to a Last Stand is incompetent rather than courageous.* An actual [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=27231 card]] in ''MagicTheGathering'', from the Apocalypse set. It has a lot of interesting effects, as it represents, effectively, the ''entire planet's'' Last Stand against TheLegionsOfHell.** Reappears in the Dark Ascension set as the Fateful Hour mechanic, granting certain spells and creatures special bonuses if the user's life total is at 5 or lower. Many of the cards with the mechanic have flavor to this effect.* Also a card in the SchizoTech [[TheSevenSamurai Six Samurai]] archetype in ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'', called [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Backs_to_the_Wall Backs to the Wall]]. It drops your Life Points to 100 (By comparison, most duels start you with 8000 Life Points), but you can summon as many Six Samurai monsters from your graveyard as possible.* In the Shadowfist card game (inspiration for the tabletop RPG TabletopGame/FengShui), there is a card depicting the death of signature character [[OldMaster Kar Fai]], called "Kar Fai's Last Stand." The flavor text says it best:--> "You can't win."--> "I don't need to."[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]* Any time in which the player is losing badly in a game can either become this trope or a RageQuit.* [[EndlessGame Endless Games]] don't have to be Last Stands, but most of them are.* In ''RagnarokOnline'', the Gunslinger's ''Last Stand'', gives bonus to attack power and attack speed at the cost of the ability to move (works with all weapons). May also be combined with [[MoreDakka Gatling Fever]].* Used as a last resort in RTS games. It's an interesting challenge and a new form of gameplay, a sort of KobayashiMario.** In ''Franchise/StarCraft'' skirmishes, the AI doesn't do so well with things like "saving resources" and "wars of attrition".* The UnwinnableByDesign Sol mission series in the losing ending of ''VideoGame/WingCommander III'' consists of endless waves of enemy fighters along with a Kilrathi Dreadnought fighting a desperate (and failing) battle to hold off the triumphant Kilrathi armada.* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha 3'', after the events of ''Anime/GaoGaiGar FINAL''. The details are on the CrowningMomentOfAwesome page for SRW.* Reversed in ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft|I}}: Brood War''. The last mission is a Last Stand of three factions against Kerrigan. And you're Kerrigan.** Then in ''[[VideoGame/StarCraftII Wings of Liberty]]'', [[spoiler:the last protoss mini-campaign mission is set in the BadFuture where Kerrigan was killed, resulting in the Fallen One using hybrids to enslave the zerg and annihilate the terrans. The mission is a last stand mission where you fight until the very last protoss in existence dies]].* In ''PunchOut'' for the Wii, there's a mode called Mac's Last Stand, where you have to fight random Title Defense opponents. If you lose three times, that's it. GAME OVER. Mac retires and the Career mode is locked. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin It really is Mac's Last Stand]].** Fortunately, a locked Career Mode simply means the "story mode" of that profile is over. You're still able to fight anyone anytime in Exhibition Mode (and Last Stand only unlocks after you've beaten all of the regular fighters in both their modes, so you have the run of them). The main goals of the Last Stand are to unlock [[NintendoHard Champion's Mode]] (where every hit on you is a OneHitKO), and fight the GuestFighter, which in turn adds him to the Exhibition roster.* In "VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption. John Marston has ridden from New Austin to Mexico, killed friends and almost died to save his sons life. When you step out of the barn one last time and see the men waiting outside, you know that this the end. Edgar Ross brought an army to kill one man and the final Dead Eye Mode lets you take a final stand that you can't possibly survive.* In a rare villainous example, ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'' features the mad Highland King Luca Blight. To be precise, he takes on three six member parties, countless archers, then a final one on one duel with the hero before finally falling.* In ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 4'', downed enemies (unless slain by headshots or explosives) have a chance to pull their sidearm and take a few spiteful potshots at you before dying. A multiplayer Perk lets players do the same to each other, though [[StopHavingFunGuys be prepared to take some flak for choosing it]]. ''ModernWarfare 2'' even included a Death Streak letting players do this with their primary weapons.** In ''ModernWarfare 2'' you'll come across a Shadow Company soldier in the final mission who is attempting to hold out against you by firing a gun despite the fact that he has no bullets. He will continue to futilely pull the trigger in your direction until you slash him with your knife.** ''World at War'' introduced the NaziZombies game mode, pitting endless hordes of the undead against four [[CrazyAwesome insane]] soldiers. Or [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy two]] [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon presidents]], a Secretary of Defense, and [[UsefulNotes/FidelCastro a dictator]]. Or Creator/SarahMichelleGellar, Creator/DannyTrejo, [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Robert Englund]], and [[Series/TheWalkingDead Michael Rooker]]. One of the last DLC maps took place on the moon, it's not a game mode that takes itself too seriously.* One of the Survival Mode maps for ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' (the one introduced alongside the mode) is actually called The Last Stand. To quote the map's tagline, [[ForegoneConclusion "It doesn't end well."]]** The saferoom graffiti has some thoughts on this as well. One from "Swamp Fever" in the sequel was written by the last survivor of the small bayou village: "We held out longer than Shreveport. We held out longer than Baton Rouge. ''We held out longer.''"** In the official storyline of the ''Left 4 Dead''/''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' DLC ''The Sacrifice'', [[spoiler: Bill holds off a massive horde, including three tanks, to let his other three companions escape on a sailboat to the Florida Keys. Sadly, it does not end so happily for him.]]** If a player goes down, their first thought is usually to [[TakingYouWithMe kill every single zombie they see.]] Justified as that makes it easier for their teammates to get them up. Or if they have something like a gas can near them, bring a defib. He will beat the shit out of those bastards by lighting them on fire (and himself, too). Bodies will pile up.* If you've played ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}'', then you've done this at least once. Alarm goes off, and instead of (or at the same time as) cursing the gods for your failure, you whip out the dual silverballers and make things messy before you go.* A substantial part of the premise of the ''IronGrip'' games, especially the second installment (which is basically a blend of tactical TowerDefense and War FPS).* [[spoiler: Zack Fair]] from ''CrisisCore'', you can't help but he awed by this guy's desperate struggle against such overwhelming numbers.* Done a few times in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI''. [[spoiler: Raogrimm]] holds off the Ark Angels [[spoiler: after you defeat him as the Shadowlord]] [[RedemptionEqualsDeath to let the party escape]]. Aphmau's Blue Mage bodyguard protects the party from an oncoming wave of Mamool Ja, likely casting Self Destruct. [[spoiler:Lehko Habhoka]] in Wings of the Goddess does the same, having hidden his mortal wound from the previous fight.* In ''DawnOfWar II'''s campaign, the final mission turns into this after you successfully complete your objectives only to have your evac craft shot down. Your units resign themselves to heroic deaths, [[spoiler:[[TheCavalry and then Captain Angelos arrives with reinforcements]], joining your side while [[ItsRainingMen allied drop pods rain upon the battlezone]]]].** A patch introduced a full-fledged Last Stand gamemode, where heroes from each faction [[EnemyMine fight together]] against waves of hostiles. It's been used to surprise players with an EarlyBirdCameo, as those who managed to reach the final wave found themselves facing [[TheLegionsOfHell Bloodletters]] and a [[EvilCounterpart Chaos Lord]] before the release of the ''Chaos Rising'' expansion. DLC also allowed players to choose a [[MiniMecha Tau battlesuit commander]], even though the Tau aren't playable in ''Dawn of War II''.** At the end of the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranid]] campaign of ''Retribution'':-->''[[SuperSoldier Blood Raven]] losses: Total... They refused to retreat.''** When the Eldar Stronghold in ''Dark Crusade'' falls, Farseer Taldeer tells her forces to escape while she holds off the attacking army on her own. Canonically [[spoiler: she is killed by the Blood Ravens and her soul stone has been taken to Kyras.]]* The final battle of ''VideoGame/RefleX'' is a mix between this, MeleeATrois and HeroicSacrifice. [[spoiler: Earth and the Raiwat finish off the war by destroying their last forces. The [[PlayerCharacter Ophiuchus]], after defeating [[FinalBoss Libra]] and the [[PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo two]] VideoGame/{{Kamui}} fighters, destroys itself and seals away the ZODIAC so that the horrific war will never resurface again.]]* A meta-example from ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'': After Microsoft shut down the X-Box Live servers for the game, [[http://kotaku.com/5525837/fourteen-halo-2-fans-refuse-to-let-it-die the "Noble Fourteen" were players who simply refused to log off]] and stayed in the game, continuing the game's final deathmatch. At one point, [[http://kotaku.com/5528475/halo-2-diehards-lured-with-halo-reach-beta-codes Bungie tried to bribe them]] with ''Halo Reach'' beta codes, but twelve remained. [[http://kotaku.com/5535672/the-last-man-to-play-halo-2-on-xbox-live The last of them was disconnected (involuntarily) on May 10th]], more than a month after the official shutdown date.** A straighter example occurs in ''VideoGame/HaloReach''. The UNSC ''Pillar of Autumn'' has left the planet, [[PlayerCharacter SPARTAN-B312]] having stayed behind to give them cover fire in a Mass Driver turret. More and more Covenant dropships are landing, and the enemy is everywhere. Among the last of the UNSC forces on Reach, you have one final mission. [[ForegoneConclusion Objective:]] [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption Survive.]]*** While in gameplay it would nearly impossible to last that long, canon states that Noble Six's last stand lasted for several hours. He single-handily held off an entire Covenant Army where the battle escalated to the point that the enemy started directing their tanks and airships '''against one soldier.''' After hours of constant fighting Noble Six was finally subdued in close combat by several Elites, some of whom he took down with him as he was dying. Keep in mind, he/she was taking on multiple ''Ultra-class'' and ''General'' Sangheili in hand to hand combat. He/she was finally killed by a ''Zealot Elite'' from behind with an Energy Dagger. DefiantToTheEnd, the Lone Wolf went down clawing and biting at his killers. ** The Firefight multiplayer mode in ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' and ''Reach'' is basically up to four ODST Marines using whatever they have at their disposal to fight off endless waves of Covenant that get progressively more difficult.* ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander: Forged Alliance'' sets one of these up, complete with actual Last Stand for a major character, though the player still 'wins' by surviving the massive onslaught long enough to be beamed up.* Occurs every now and then in ''VideoGame/WorldOfTanks'' because of the victory conditions. As soon as most of the enemies are down, most of the team rushes towards enemy HQ one by one. Just one defending heavy tank or even SPG often takes this to Conservation Of Ninjutsu levels impossible in normal firefight, sometimes making it to a stalemate or even a victory.* In the flash game ''{{Steambirds}}: Survival'', you are a British pilot, [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale outnumbered 1000 to 1]], allowing the citizens of London to evacuate before the German armada arrives, dropping a toxic gas on the city and killing them all. Done wrong, you could utterly fail and take exactly none of them with you. Done right, 50 or more German planes/airships will be going down with you.* ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy 012'''s climax is all the new characters, including fan-favorites such as [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII Lighting]], [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV Kain]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Laguna]] against a Mankin horde. [[spoiler: An endless Mankin horde.]] [[BolivianArmyEnding Needless to say, they don't make it.]]** Though it is worth noting the actual context of the scene: The group who opted into this fight went there knowing full well that survival would be nearly impossible, that part was never a factor to them. Their only purpose here was to seal the rift in order to stop the flood of mankins so that whoever was left in the next cycle might be able to get a clear shot at actually ending the war. It might have taken all of them getting totally erased from the cycle to do it, but they DID succeed, leaving a MUCH smaller force of mankins to deal with for the survivors and contributing hugely to the success of Cosmos's final plan.** At the same time, the Warrior of Light is seen facing off and then fighting a massive hoard of [[RedShirtArmy Manequins]] by himself to [[YouShallNotPass protect]] [[PhysicalGod Cosmos.]] He also fails.*** He actually does hold out just long enough, Shinryuu resets to the next cycle just as Warrior of Light falls and Cosmos is about to be attacked.* Garrus in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' is forced into this scenario, when after being lured away from his squad, returned to watch the final two die and held out against the three merc gangs for several hours before Shepard arrived.** The final DLC pack for ''Mass Effect 2'', ''Arrival'', actually has an achievement called Last Stand, earned by [[spoiler:surviving the HopelessBossFight against five waves of enemy forces coming in to put you down. [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption Even if you survive, you still get knocked out]], but [[CrowningMomentofAwesome single-handedly fighting off all the enemies while they talk about how they can't bring you down certainly makes you feel mighty]]. And firmly establishes (or consolidates) Shepard as a total {{Badass}}.]]** [[spoiler: Grunt]] has one in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', against a group of [[spoiler: Reaper-modified Rachni.]] Bonus Badass points because if you secured his loyalty, ''he survives.'' [[spoiler: And asks if you've got anything to eat.]]** Since ''3'' starts at what in any other game in the series would be the DarkestHour and then gets darker more or less constantly, you run into this a lot. The turians start out knowing that they cannot hope to fight off the Reapers, being constantly ground down, just holding the line while the transports escape, and you get emails during the game where people you saved in the first game [[spoiler:such as Aresh and Kal'Reegar]] make heroic last stands protecting people from the unfolding apocalypse.* [[spoiler:Jaffar]] does one of these in ''FireEmblem 7'' to aid [[spoiler:Nino]] in escaping. The role of the player is to [[BigDamnHeroes attempt to subvert this trope]].* ''Sol: A History'' (a fanmade ''Freespace 2'' campaign that takes place in the Sol system while it is cut off after the events of the first game) begins with the Terran fleet preparing to make a last stand against the invincible destroyer Lucifer. As the Lucifer is destroyed in hyperspace, the last stand is averted.* [[StoneWall Protection]] [[MightyGlacier Warriors]] in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' have an ability called Last Stand that can be used as this trope. It boosts your HP for 15 seconds, but when it wears off, you lose all of the HP it gave you, meaning if you're not healed, you're at 1 HP and the next hit is fatal.** In the quest "Last Stand", the player does this with several other characters against a horde of werewolves.* ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' has a MiniGame called Last Stand where you are given 5000 sun to build fortifications to defend against five waves of zombies. Unlike normal game modes you gain no additional sun during play except for a small amount in between waves. Survival modes could probably be seen as this as well, especially [[EndlessGame Survival Endless]].* In the finale of ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2: Severed'', mortally wounded Gabe Weller fends off a tide of necromorphs while forcing open an airlock so his pregnant wife Lexine can escape Titan Station.* VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi Episode 2. Rosa's DyingMomentOfAwesome. Proof that she does care for her daughter, despite everything.** Also, all of Episode 8. The Fantasy side and the Ushiromiya family ally against Erika and an endless army of demon goats. And it's [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesome.]]* Jaou, one of the Fourve in ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'', stays behind to hold off the enemy forces to let Gaius and his comrades escape. Having been gravely wounded beforehand, there was no way he could possibly survive...[[DyingMomentOfAwesome though he actually succeeded in killing off all the enemy footsoldiers with a single attack containing all the strength he could muster]], before getting killed by a cannon mounted on an aircraft overhead.** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvI3iDwq4I4 Jaou in all his glory]]* The [[spoiler:defense of your castle]] at the end of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'' ''can'' be this [[spoiler:if you went to help protect the city instead]]. If you've done your administrative work properly, [[spoiler:as in getting your troops properly equipped and the castle repaired]], it isn't.** In the [[VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins base game]], this is pretty much the whole point of the [[BadassArmy Legion of the Dead]], who's members have forsaken the safety of Orzammar for glory or to regain their lost honor, in order to venture into the furthest reaches of the Deep Roads to hold back the endless hordes of Darkspawn. They do not cease fighting, until they are either dead or physically unable to keep moving.** The Calling is a longstanding tradition for Senior Grey Wardens, where they embark into the Deep Roads, with the intention of taking down as many Darkspawn as they can before they are finally slain. While many younger Wardens believe this is to avoid their eventual death from [[TheCorruption the Taint]], in reality, [[spoiler: they do this in order to [[DyingAsHimself die as themselves]] rather than undergo ghoulification]].* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations'': [[spoiler: Yusuf]] has one offscreen. Near the end of the game, the villain sends a horde of templars to kidnap a woman [[HostageForMacguffin to use as leverage for the keys to Altaïr's library]]. When Ezio happens upon the scene, he finds [[spoiler: Yusuf]] lying lifeless in her house, on the other end of a carpet of dead Templars. A quick count tallies up at least fifteen dead Templars left in the shop, and that's not counting any that he wounded or that managed to get away unscathed.* In ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'', "Last Stand" is a signature skill of the Captain class that prevents the Captain from being defeated for its duration. What really makes it fit the trope is another Captain skill, "In Harm's Way" that redirects incoming damage from the rest of the party [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin onto the Captain]]. Enforcing the trope further, the default duration of Last Stand is five seconds shorter than In Harm's Way.* In the Lonesome Road DLC of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', if you manage to talk down Ulysses in the finale, he'll tell you that the Marked Men of the Divide will be coming in as part of his original plan to kill you. He'll then offer to team up with you to make a final stand against all of them.* [[CombatPragmatist The Tarka]] from ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' are noted in the supplementary materials to view last stands as one of those incomprehensible human customs they can never understand, since from their moral point of view it's essentially a form of [[{{griefer}} grieving]]. Their logic goes that you can only gain honor in battle by winning, and if you're losing your best option is to cut and run in an attempt to come back another day. If you commit yourself to a last stand not only do you prevent yourself from erasing the stain on your honor later, you're also making the opponent gain less honor from his victory by lessening it at the cost of your own life. * ''LastScenario'' features [[spoiler: Felgorn, an [[TheAtoner Atoner]] for the other side who demonstrates [[HeroicSacrifice Heroic Sacrifice]] and [[OneManArmy One Man Army]] during his last stand against two-hundred soldiers that ended in a tie.]]* ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight''[='=]s final sector, The Last Stand. The last bits of TheFederation's fleet holds off the Rebel fleet, but you can subvert this trope by destroying the [[FinalBoss Rebel Flagship]]. If the Flagship reaches the Federation base, it's an instant GameOver.* The entire ''{{X-Com}}'' series is pretty much about this. The original ''UFO Defence'' game even gave you a terrifying cutscene to show the final fate of Earth, if you get a Game Over.* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':** At the end of the last DLC for ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', a Paragon [[TheDeterminator Shepard]] [[ShutUpHannibal also gives]] [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu this trope]] to [[EldritchAbomination Harbinger]] right after s/he already flipped them off again.--> '''Shepard:''' "Maybe you're right: [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption maybe we can't win this]]. But we'll fight you regardless. Just like we did [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 Sovereign]], just like I'm doing now. No matter how insignificant we might be, we will fight. We will sacrifice, and we will find a way. [[HumansAreSpecial That's what]] [[HumanityIsSuperior humans do]]."** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' is this on a galactic level, but it starts on Earth.--> '''Admiral Steven Hackett:''' Never before have so many come together from all quarters of the galaxy. But never before have we faced an enemy such as this. The Reapers will show us no mercy; we must give them no quarter. They will terrorize our populations; we must stand fast in the face of that terror. They will advance until our last city falls, but we will not fall. We will prevail. Each of us will be defined by our actions in the coming battle. Stand fast. Stand strong. Stand together. Hackett out.* Partly subverted by ''The Ur-Quan Masters'' (AKA ''VideoGame/StarControl II''). At the beginning, humanity ''has'', indeed, been defeated, trapped beneath [[TheWallAroundTheWorld planetary shields]] in "[[VichyEarth Fallow Slavery]]", and the small detachment of humans left in a space-station outside the shields are nice and obedient to the eponymous Ur-Quan masters. (It helps that they can't maintain life support without Ur-Quan assistance.) Until the player character shows up with a Precursor spaceship. ''Then'' they rebel, and put together TheAlliance with great speed, before taking on the Ur-Quan directly. The Ur-Quan specifically chose to use planetary shields to [[AvertedTrope avert]] [[GenreSavvy this trope]]. Any race too courageous to agree to serve them would end up trapped in an [[SealedGoodInACan impenetrable force field]]. This allows the Ur-Quan to win against enemies who were too dumb to [[TheDeterminator know when they're beaten]], without having to KillEmAll. If you talk to Commander Hayes, he reveals that Earth kept the war going right up to the point where Ur-Quan ships were positioned in orbit, ready to glass the entire planet.* ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'''s President Riley fits this trope in spades, many times going out of the way to inform you in the campaign briefings, and even during the last mission how the UEF will never surrender. Perhaps subverted slightly in that the enemies are actually other factions of humans, and that by the time the Seraphim roll around, [[spoiler: he's already dead.]]* In ''VideoGame/DeadLock'', the human faction is mainly known for its prowess in the [[HumansAreDiplomats realms of trade and diplomacy]] - greatly suited for winning the game in peaceful ways. But if they're forced into a fight, they have a special weapon too - all Human Infantry can use the 'Berserk' command in battle, injecting themselves with SuperSerum that [[TheBerserker whips them into a frenzy, granting them the incredible strength and durability they need to take on vastly more powerful alien foes]]. Unfortunately, any survivors will either be killed or crippled for life by the drug's body altering effects. Even the '''[[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Tarth]]''' find this fanatical dedication to be downright disturbing.* ''VideoGame/EliteBeatAgents'' and the second ''VideoGame/OsuTatakaeOuendan'' game feature this as a penultimate level. The final level involves some truly epic Sprit Bombs. Heck, EBA's second-last song ''is'' "Without A Fight"!* The villain equivalent of this is The Helghast from ''VideoGame/{{Killzone}}''. They know to a man they cannot win, but they keep fighting for their home.* In ''[[VideoGame/LegendOfLegaia Legaia II: Duel Saga]]'', this is the reason why humanity defeated the Kabel in the ancient war, according to Chief West Wind. The Kabel had the power of magic, but they had lost their human spirit. Humanity retained its fighting spirit and will to survive, and was able to overcome the superior foe and endure.* In ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'' X Legacy, though your party does not engage in one, [[spoiler: while exploring Dunstan's memories in the Tomb of Thousand Terrors, your party observes the dwarf of the group attempting this to buy time for the other remaining three party members to escape]]. Notes that you find along the way also talk of the same scenario and mention he managed to put up quite the fight.* The Advent Rebel's ''Eradica'' Titan in SinsOfASolarEmpire has it's ultimate ability which makes it more powerful the more damage it takes and when it's health finally runs out it gets 2 minutes of invulnerability before being destroyed.* The ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' series has this as a mechanic. Normally, soldiers fight until their morale crumbles and they run away. However, if they cannot retreat (being encircled or on a wall), they switch to "Fighting to the Last Man", and will fight until the last one falls[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]* ''{{Nodwick}}:'' [[http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/gamespyarchive/index.php Bracing for a last stand]]. [[spoiler:Surprise! It's the henchmen!]]* In ''Webcomic/DrowTales'', the Sharen clan is ultimately faced with one of these against the Sarghress as the District War enters its conclusion.* First half of the ''ErfWorld'' is this. Stanley's side is desperate enough to summon a "perfect" warlord. Unfortunately, this person is Parson.** When things start to completely fall apart, Parson has a few words to say in the subject of last stands.-->'''Parson''': "So this'll be the last of the last stands..."-->''Enemies start pouring in instead of waiting for reinforcements''-->'''Parson''': "All right, boop this. Wanda! Fall back to the Portal Room and tighten the perimeter until it holds! Call it the last - of the last of the last stands."* ''Webcomic/{{Bug|Martini}}'' [[http://www.bugcomic.com/comics/scarface/ deconstructs]] this trope.* In ''NipAndTuck'', the ShowWithinAShow ''Rebel Cry'' has [[http://www.rhjunior.com/NT/00715.html the hero declare he will fight one to defend the only thing they have yet to take from him.]]* ''Webcomic/{{Subnormality}}'' has a rather touching comic about a [[http://www.viruscomix.com/page541.html last stand]].* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', this is what happened to post-scratch [[spoiler: Dave and Rose]]. Worse, they knew it was going to happen... but fought the bad guy anyway, because as Jake said when told what had happend, that's what heroes do.* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-07-02 the mercenaries practice hand-to-hand for bar brawls, not this after they run out of ammo.]]* In ''Webcomic/TheRedStar'', [[http://www.beyondrealitymedia.com/the-red-star/issue-2/page-9/ Maya recounts how her husband had held off vastly superior forces and lost only three men -- reinforcements had arrived in time, then.]][[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]* Happens to Nahman, member of the GIProz during the Mount And Blade video. He is one of the few remaining members of the Austrian military who try holding out against Freikorps that are storming their hill. * '' TheShapeOfTheNightmareToCome'', a fan created theory of what the Fifty-first Millennium of the Warhammer 40,000 universe might look like, has a few of these; the Adeptus Custodes and Gray Knights on Titan and the Imperial Fists on Terra and later all across the Galaxy are most notable. Almost all of the Orkish race makes a final stand against the New Devourer in the largest battle the galaxy has ever seen. And they lose.* ''SurvivalOfTheFittest'' had one near the end of version three, during [[spoiler:the escape attempt]]. While the majority of the students went to the coast (where [[spoiler:the escape boats were waiting]]), one group [[YouShallNotPass stayed behind to buy time for the others]], fighting [[spoiler:the platoon of Danya's soldiers sent to stop them]]. [[spoiler:Only two of them - [[ShellShockedVeteran Adam Dodd]] and [[TheHero Neil Sinclair]] - made it out alive, but the others not only succeeded in delaying the soldiers, they ''wiped out the platoon'' by blowing up the armory.]]* ''NoSpanishCivilWarIn1936'' gives us an impressive Last Stand in Zaragoza done by the Spanish Army, led by Francisco Franco. The German siege of Zaragoza starts in March 28th 1941. They send the best they have, Wehrmacht and SS-wise into the city, and they are fighting soldiers, militias and civilians that don't want to leave the city (a "ragtag force of Spanish and British regular troops, militiamen, and simple civilians", literally). The German estimation is that it'll take 10 days to take the city. It takes them that much (April 7th) to surround the city completely, pitting 50,000 Allied soldiers and militias against 200,000 German soldiers. It takes them ''45 days'' (May 12th) just to take the northern half of the city. Zaragoza doesn't surrender until ''June 3rd''. The result? A good chunk of the German army invading Spain has been held up in Zaragoza for more than two months, the Germans have lost a boatload of tanks and they got 100,000 casualties. The Allies have just 50,000 casualties, mostly Spanish, plus some planes that were trying to drop supplies to keep the siege going.* ''Literature/TheSalvationWar'' has this trope as what seems to be its dominant feature.* The Literature/ChaosTimeline has a Sir Winston of Marlborough fighting the Socialists who's quite similar to him.* TheLastAngel involves quite many, the pacification of Varissha and the battle of Earth stand out in particular. [[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'':** Dinobot's last stand against the Predacons in ''Code of Hero'' is probably ''the'' CrowningMomentOfAwesome for the entire [[{{Transformers}} franchise]].** And of course, Optimus Prime himself is no stranger to this trope, having done it twice in two separate movies. And both were also pretty darn awesome.* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' basically starts with [[SacrificialLion Cliffjumper's]] last stand... and he does ''not'' go quietly.* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers Galaxy Rangers'' episode "Armada", the Crown Forces vastly outnumbered the League's and were pretty much ready to steamroll Earth. [[DaChief Commander Walsh]] even invoked the trope. It was only at the last minute that [[TheCavalry Shane and Niko arrived]], exposing a critical flaw in the Crown's experimental engine design.* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' has a villainous example. After failing to capture the fairies in the Dark Abyss, Ogron, Gantlos, and Anagan run to the Omega Dimension prison planet to hide. When they're followed, Anagan wants to surrender, but Ogron decides to take on the fairies even though they're outnumbered and low on magic. They end up frozen and stuck in Omega for their efforts.* ''WesternAnimation/RoughnecksStarshipTroopersChronicles'' featured [[EnsembleDarkhorse C.H.A.S.]] rescue Higgins from a minefield by stepping on the mine [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman him/itself]]. As the bugs swarm in C.H.A.S. opens up with every gun he has to buy the others time to get away. Notable in that he gets two [[PreMortemOneLiner Pre-Mortem One Liners]].** The first is [[PreAsskickingMutter "I am out of ammunition"]] so he starts [[MeetMyGoodFriendsLeftyAndRighty punching bugs to death]]. When that fails he lets the bugs crowd in close and...*** ...[[TakingYouWithMe Takes his foot off the mine.]] [[DefiantToTheEnd "ROUGHNECKS, HO!"]][[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]* [[http://www.cracked.com/article/197_the-7-most-badass-last-stands-in-history-battle/ This article]], as the title implies, chronicles some of the most BadAss one man last stands in history.** Special mention goes to #1, Thomas A. Baker, for he was the embodiment of ICanStillFight, ObiWanMoment, YouShallNotPass, TakingYouWithMe, and '''especially''' TooCoolToLive. His battalion was severely overpowered by the Japanese, so they began to retreat. Baker was mortally wounded and his guns destroyed, and his comrades began to carry him with the group; however, he refused, and instead wanted to hold off the advancing enemy with whatever shred of life he had left. The group agreed, and gave him a [[CoolGuns Colt M1911 pistol]] and propped his dying body against a tree trunk. When the Americans regrouped and captured the spot later on, they found Baker's body, with eight bullets fired, and [[DyingMomentOfAwesome eight Japanese soldiers lying dead in front of him]]. He was given a Medal of Honor for his heroic efforts on the brink of death.** A [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20434_5-people-who-took-revenge-to-whole-new-level.html more recent article]]'s number 4 slot, Benjamin L. Saloman surpassed even that. While stationed as a field surgeon in Saipan[[note]] Coincidentally the same island that Baker died taking[[/note]], the impromptu hospital was invaded by Japanese troops, killing some of the wounded he'd just saved. After killing the 4 who'd entered the tent, he provided covering fire for the wounded to evacuate - when they returned later, they found him dead with ''70 bullets'' in his body, and 100 Japanese soldiers dead in front of him. Needless to say, [[DyingMomentOfAwesome this also earned him a post-humous Medal of Honor]].* The 1941-1942 Philippine campaign, specifically the battles of Bataan and Corregidor. Although the Filipino-American defenders gave up in the end (which in turn led to the infamous Bataan Death March), the tenacious defense of Bataan and Corregidor slowed the Japanese advance towards the South Pacific and into Australia, which was further slowed at the Battle of Kokoda Track and finally stopped at the Battle of the Coral Sea.* Battle of Thermopylae. Note that Spartan law forbade them to retreat; hence, the page quote.** The Spartans were bound by their law and honor to stay and fight, but the contingent from Thespiae, who lacked the strict, lifelong military training of the Spartans and had no particular reason to stay, also decided to stand and fight with them as they covered the rest of the Greek army's retreat.* The Theban Sacred Band (a [[BadassGay homosexual warrior fraternity]]) at the Battle of Chaeronea did ''even better'' then the Spartans and Thespiae at Thermopylae. Not "just" guarding a mountain pass they stood in the open field and thumbed their collective noses at AlexanderTheGreat himself. Unlike the Spartans however, their cause [[DoomedMoralVictor died]] [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife with them.]]* Averted with the siege of Masada, where the [[LaResistance Jewish partisans]] [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled committed suicide rather than surrender.]] When the Romans finally stormed the fortress, they found every single person dead, including many of them who hadn't wanted to die, ''including the women and children''.** Although, Roman rules of war dictated that if the defenders of a fortress had refused a chance to surrender, all bets were off and the Romans could do what they wanted with the defenders and everyone else inside. Given what the Romans would've done to the [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil women]] and [[MadeASlave children]], it's probably [[CruelToBeKind a sort]] of [[MercyKill kindness]].** There were seven survivors, all women and children, who had managed to hide. The Romans pardoned them.** Masada is also a pilgrimage place for the Israeli soldiers, and their oath states "Masada will not fall again".* RememberTheAlamo!** The Chapultepec Battle: Although the Mexican history likes to boast up the Niños Héroes, many still don't remember the Batallón de San Blas. Of the 300 men defending Chapultepec, only a few survived the battle.* The famous quote from Napoleon's Imperial Guard ("[[HonorBeforeReason the Old Guard dies but does not surrender]]") at their last stand at the Battle of Waterloo. However, the quote is a complete fabrication - the quote actually given was [[PrecisionFStrike "Merde!"]] - and the survivors surrendered anyway.** More like they did not surrender as a body, but not long afterwards joined the general rout and were captured individually. What was said, is a matter of dispute. Count Cambronne, who is supposed to have uttered both versions, steadfastly denied he said the first one, which is hardly surprising given that he did not die but did surrender to colonel Hew Halkett of the 3rd Hanoverian (militia) brigade. But he did not confirm or deny the one-word alternative either.* When defending a breach in the colony against ant invasion, a phalanx-like formation of termites will thrust themselves into the breach to buy workers time to rebuild the wall. However, the wall is sealed up behind them, allowing no return, and the defenders are invariably annihilated.* Most medieval sieges ended in either in a Last Stand, or in the GenreSavvy defenders surrendering to the besieger in an attempt to avert a trope that would get them all killed. Castles that were taken without surrender were usually taken with [[BetrayalTropes inside help]].** [[BoringButPractical Or one side or the other starved.]] Or contagious disease took them off -- it was not until the twentieth century that soldiers were more likely to fall to weapons than disease.** There were rules about this. When the castle had been lost to the point that it was down to a last stand the defenders could surrender with honor, but subjecting the attackers to the hell of a final meat-grinder battle meant they would receive no mercy. Later, post-Renaissance, walled cities and castles could surrender with honor after the wall was breached, especially as cannon made such defenses less effective. However, should the besieger actually have to attack (the first wave was often called the Forlorn Hope), the defenders were usually subject to massacre. Highly effective as a means to induce your opponent to have an incentive to yield--and thus spare yourself losses.*** This made timing, seasons, weather, logistics, negotiation and a host of other factors other than military strength quite important, as castles could be won or lost without a single soldier on either side ever taking arms. Diplomacy, face saving and living trumps dying to the last most of the time. * A semi-aversion: the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorke%27s_Drift battle of Rorke's drift,]] where 150 ''British'' [[note]] The 2nd/24th didn't become the South Wales Borderers until two years later, and in 1879 mainly recruited from rural England and Ireland regardless of what {{Zulu}} may say.[[/note]] soldiers held off a force of 4,000 Zulus through proper use of fortifications and sheer tenacity. The soldiers inflicted enough casualties on the Zulu warriors to convince them that taking the outpost was unnecessarily costly, and most of the defenders escaped with their lives.** [[{{Jerkass}} A British Commander later said that the soldiers involved didn't deserve Victoria Crosses.]] His reasoning was that they had to retreat before the Zulu in order to hold the fort, literally breaking through the walls of the buildings and holding the Zulu room by room.** Speaking of the Anglo-Zulu War, a Zulu account from the British defeat at Isandlwana tells the story of a big Irish soldier of the 24th who alone stood guard over Lord Chelmsford's tent and Union flag. He kept them back with his bayonet until he was finally overwhelmed by several Zulu warriors.* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_Option Samson Option]] is a speculated response should Israel fall. It basically consists of firing every single nuke (well... [[ShrugOfGod if they have any]]) at their attackers in a last ditch effort to turn the tides, or at the very least [[TakingYouWithMe take some (or most) down with them]]. Let us hope we never find out.** A lost nuke during one of these scenarios is the basis for ''Literature/TheSumOfAllFears''* [[RefugeInAudacity "My center is giving way, my right is retreating]]; [[BadassBoast situation excellent. I am attacking."]] - [[FourStarBadass Ferdinand Foch]], UsefulNotes/WorldWarI* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto_Uprising Warsaw Ghetto Uprising]]. [[TheDogBitesBack About 70,000 Jews, after being starved for years, with homemade weapons and a few stolen guns took on the Germans.]] The German commander Jürgen Stroop reported:-->"When we invaded the Ghetto for the first time, the Jews and the Polish bandits succeeded in repelling the participating units, ''including tanks and armored cars''..."** The Germans finally resorted to [[KillItWithFire burning down the ghetto.]]--->''"We were beaten by the flames, not the Germans."''\-- Resistance leader Marek Edelman*** The Jews held out in the Ghetto for 27 days.* Not to mention the later [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Uprising Warsaw Uprising]]. Even handicapped by bad planning, bad intel and severe weapons shortages, the ''Armia Krajowa'' (Home Army) of occupied Poland held off the ''Waffen-SS'' for 63 days...and forced the Germans to treat them as [=POWs=], not "bandits" according to the Geneva Conventions. As they marched out to surrender, many Germans ''[[WorthyOpponent saluted]]''.** Although, they never intended to hold out indefinitely. They expected the Red Army (which was approaching at a blistering pace) to relieve them, but apparently didn't understand that the Red Army's latest offensive had neither planned to nor was capable of maintaining a(n unplanned-for, and therefore having been assigned neither sufficient troops nor supplies to succesfully do this upon demand!) bridgehead over the Vistula so close to Warsaw, a then-improvised but strongly-held lynchpin of the Germans' defensive line there. The Poles had already rebelled when the the mobile (exploitation-)force that got closest to Warsaw (as little as 10km, apparently) had to halt for fear of a German counter-attack while they were still nearly out of ammunition and fuel and their men were fainting with hunger and exhaustion. While it ''might've'' been possible for the Red Army to execute an improvised offensive within the 60 days of the uprising to take ''and hold'' Warsaw in the face of fierce German resistance and counter-attacks, it wouldn't have had the numbers or ammunition for it to be anything but an extremely costly endeavor which would've meant at least a few tens of thousands dead/crippled/captured and a lot of prime war material put out of action - not to mention the huge problems this would cause the entire logistics chain[[note]] Especially given the frantic preparations for the upcoming Iassy-Kishinev offensive against Rumania and the need to exert pressure on Army Group North in the Baltic to keep it from escaping to Germany by sea[[/note]] given that they hadn't planned on launching the damned thing until just a month ago!*** However, given that the blood-price Stalin was willing to pay for an independant Poland was precisely zero, the possibly and the costs are moot points. * Then there's the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wizna Battle of Wizna]]. Outnumbered over 58:1, with no tanks or air support, and horribly outgunned, the Polish commander "swore that he would not leave his post alive". And the Polish forces proceeded to inflict remarkably severe casualties upon the Nazis - before, of course, ultimately being annihilated.** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epeQwq-aYV0: Sabaton wrote a song about the battle. Though the song seems to imply the Polish Soldiers survived.]]*** According to TheOtherWiki, the last surviving 40 of the 720 Polish soldiers surrendered after being directly ordered by their commanding officer to do so. The commander chose to kill himself rather than surrender his position.* The Battle of Camerone in which 65 officers and men of [[LegionOfLostSouls the French Foreign Legion]] held off a Mexican force of approximately 2,000 for ten hours. When first asked to surrender, Capitaine Jean Danjou replied simply with, ''"We have munitions. We will not surrender."'' The last two men on their feet were finally persuaded to surrender on terms. The nineteen surviving legionaires had their wounds tended and were repatriated along with their arms and the bodies of their fallen comrades. Camerone is commemorated annually by the Foreign Legion to this day.--->''"The Legion Dies, it does not Surrender!"''\-- Battle cry of Capitaine Jean Danjou, commander of the Legionnaires.** As a consequence of this, to this day, whenever a Mexican soldier/officer encounters a Legionnaire, the Mexican will always salute ''first'', no matter what their ranks are.* Battle of the Bulge, early days of the battle. As related by Hugh M. Cole in [[http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/7-8/7-8_14.htm "The Ardennes: The Battle of the Bulge"]]: "A small group of [American] stragglers suddenly become tired of what seems to be eternally retreating. Miles back they ceased to be part of an organized combat formation, and recorded history, at that point, lost them. The sound of firing is heard for fifteen minutes, an hour, coming from a patch of woods, a tiny village, the opposite side of a hill. The enemy has been delayed; the enemy resumes the march westward. Weeks later a graves registration team uncovers mute evidence of a last-ditch stand at woods, village, or hill."** For that matter, the defense of Bastogne absolutely ''should'' have been one of these for the 101st Airborne Division. Utterly surrounded, so low on ammunition Hollywood producers would laugh at it, sitting in the dead of winter, everyone on both sides considered them as good as dead. General Luttwitz of the German army was so impressed with their tenacity his party offered them (supposedly, and relatively) reasonable terms for surrender, prompting one of the most famous replies in history: "Nuts!" History records that their desperate last stand was averted by Patton's army leading a BigDamnHeroes moment to rescue them. The surviving member of the 101st, to this day, [[BadassBoast deny that they were in any need of rescue.]]** From the German side, the Battle of the Bulge is partially seen as a last stand. For one of their last offensives of the war (with Operation Nordwind in Alsace and Operation Konrad in Budapest), Hitler had organized the last reserves of the Wehrmacht to attack the weakest point of the Western Allies, in the hopes that doing so would cause them to negotiate peace terms and the Germans would (again, hopefully) halt the Russians afterwards. Hitler's very last stand ever would take place in Berlin, where the war had long been decided.* Even Ireland has had a few of these. While taking part in a UN Peacekeeping mission in Congo during the 1960's, an army of separatists attacked the UN position at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jadotville Jadotville]]. The Irish force of about 150 were armed with nothing heavier than personal weapons and some WWI-era machine guns. The attackers had 4,000+ troops, mortars, a field gun, and a ''frakking jet''. The Irish held them off for 5 days, when they finally ran out of bullets and food.** The CrowningMomentOfAwesome of Jadotville is definitely the transmission the Irish troops made to headquarters: "We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. [[CasualDangerDialogue Could do with some whiskey]]."* Spartacus' Slave revolt culminated in a Last Stand of epic proportions as Spartacus and his 100,000 slaves faced Crassus and his army. Spartacus and his army had marched from Capua, in the south west, to the Alps in Northern Italy - and then ''all the way'' back to the southmost part of Italy, where they were trapped when boats taking them to Sicily failed to arrive. Crassus built a 30 mile wall to cut them off ''and they still got through it'' before being defeated. Crassus then decided to [[MoralEventHorizon crucify 6,000 surviving slaves along Rome's main highway.]]* [[http://www.ww2f.com/eastern-europe/13579-pavlovs-house.html#post164521 Sergeant Yakov Pavlov and his platoon, trapped behind enemy lines in a half-collapsed apartment building in Stalingrad,]] [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18550_5-true-war-stories-that-put-every-action-movie-to-shame.html constantly beating the crap out of attacking German troops]] ''for 59 days''. BadAss...* The entire Battle of Stalingrad could be considered this. With the Germans on the front, commissars in the rear, and their backs to the river, the Russian troops literally had no other option than fight or die.* The Battle of Berlin was this for ThoseWackyNazis. The Russians threw everything they had at the city, and the last bastions of the Third Reich held out for a while, but were ultimately fighting a battle most knew they weren't going to win. This was also the battle in which UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler decided that it was BetterToDieThanBeKilled, and shot himself in the head when [[AxCrazy even he]] realized there was no way out.* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of_Brest_Fortress The Brest Fortress]]. On June 22, 1941, Brest Fortress was one of the first Soviet defenses to be attacked by German troops. Surrounded, a few defenders continued fighting for more than a month, facing overwhelming German troops and heavy artillery. The last defender of the Brest Fortress, Major Pyotr Gavrilov was taken prisoner on July 23, unable to fight any longer due to starvation and exhaustion.* The Battle of Sadarapat, a turning point in the Armenian-Turkish War of 1918 in which the bigger and stronger Turkish army was bitterly defeated. It was said by historian Christopher J. Walker that had the Armenians not won the Battle of Sardarapat (which won Armenia's independence for a brief period), the word 'Armenia' might today only be an antique geographical term.* Despite giving up in the end, Dien Bien Phu rightly belongs here. The casualties suffered and inflicted by the core battalions in this "Hell in a Very Small Place" before finally surrendering were appalling. Some of the Para and Legion battalions were down to 25- 40 walking wounded, and no unharmed, at the end from their supposed strength of 600-ish. Yet even on the last day they would counterattack enemy full-strength battalions when they lost a position, and succeed! [=CMoA=] from the most Badass Army of its time (the French Paras). You could add Stalingrad as well, both the German attack on it and the Cauldron itself.* The fall of Constantinople in AD 1453 marked the end of the Roman Empire, which had been by far the most ancient country in the Western world, 2,206 years old. The last emperor, Constantine XI, chose to go out with a fight, rather than have the empire dismantled by submitting to the Ottoman sultan. With the Roman army barely being a city garrison by this point, he managed to get 7,000 defenders inside the city, both Greek and foreign. The night before the final battle, native Orthodox and foreign Catholic defenders held a joint service in the Hagia Sophia. The emperor's final address to his troops was as fitting as one could be for such an occasion, [[ItHasBeenAnHonor thanking them]] for their service and and calling them "worthy heirs of the heroes of Ancient Greece and Rome." During the final assault, when the Ottomans finally breached the defenses, the emperor said, "[[FamousLastWords The city is fallen, yet I am alive]]," and led his remaining troops in one last charge. His body was never found, and he became the Greek people's KingInTheMountain.** His [[FamousLastWords final words]] have alternately been recorded as, [[BadassBoast God forbid I should live, an Emperor without an Empire! As my city falls, I fall with it!]] He then tore the imperial insignia from his armor and, together with a handful of friends, charged into a mass of Janissaries. This was the death of the last Emperor of Rome. Somewhere Romulus is smiling.** 1,000 of the surviving Greek soldiers charging the mass of 120,000 Ottoman soldiers swarming over the walls in an effort to allow the rest of their comrades to escape. Courage doesn't even begin to describe it.* A Last Stand is one of the few actions that would make a soldier eligible for the Congressional Medal of Honor. Naturally, the vast majority of these medals are awarded posthumously. Possibly the greatest example would be [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gordon Master Sergeant Gary Gordon]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Shughart Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart]] in the Battle of Mogadishu. Both men volunteered to go down to a crashed Blackhawk and attempt to protect the surviving crew from hundreds of hostile militants. They were both overrun and killed by the attacking militants, but took at least 24 men with them. Michael Durant, the pilot of the Blackhawk, survived.* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Chamberlain Colonel Joshua Chamberlain]] and the 20th Maine were tasked with defending the Union flank at Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg. Chamberlain held his position, despite repeated attacks by the Confederates, mounting casualties, and low ammo, because retreat would mean the collapse of the entire Union line. It was only after running out of ammo that he ordered a full bayonet charge as a desperation move, which was so [[RefugeInAudacity bold and unexpected]] that the Confederates were forced to retreat.* [[http://badassoftheweek.com/21sikhs.html The 21 Sikhs]] at the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Saragarhi Battle of Saragarhi]]. Twenty-one Sikh soldiers defending a small but vital outpost on the Indian border were faced with twenty thousand Pashtun tribesmen armed with rifles and heavy cannons, and all of them volunteered to stay. They staved off the enemy army for most of a day before being overwhelmed, killing an estimate of eight hundred enemy troops and warning the British army of the attack, giving them time to prepare a defense and counterattack. When the British Parliament heard of the battle, it resulted in a standing ovation, and September 12 is now considered an official holiday in India.* When a prey animal is trapped by a predator and has no hope of escape, it sometimes attacks its predator as hard as possible. "The cornered rat will bite the cat."* Richard Grenville sailed his one ship against a whole Spanish fleet, as narrated in Tennyson's poem "The Revenge: A Ballad of the Fleet," and inflicted incredibly disproportionate damage before finally being forced to surrender by his crew...after he'd been mortally wounded. The Spaniards were so [[WorthyOpponent awed]] that they promised to release the English sailors who survived.* The [[TheYugoslavWars Battle of Vukovar]] featured a force of around 2,200 Croatian infantry (with next to no armor, air support or artillery) fighting against a much larger Serbian force that had significant armor and air support. Despite being horribly outmatched and surrounded, the Croats held out for 87 days and inflicted heavy casualties on their enemies in brutal street-to-street fighting.* Zig-zagged in the Battle of Churubusco. Despite orders from [[GeneralFailure President Santanna]] to not give the US troops any resistance, treason from the aformentioned President, and facing more than double his number in US troops, General Anaya managed to hold them off, even causing two retreats. Ultimately, he was forced to surrender, but when told to hand over any remaining ammunition, he delivered the following epic line:-->"If I had ammunition, ''[[BadassBoast you wouldn't be here]]''."* The Battle of Stamford Bridge, Harold Godwinson's 1066 battle against Harald Hardrada, had one of these, as the Norwegian forces retreated across the eponymous bridge in order to regroup and prepare for battle after a devastating English attack. As they retreated across the bridge, a lone viking volunteered to stay behind and hold off the English. He took down around forty men on his own, before a Saxon soldier got the better of him by floating under the bridge and hitting him from below with a spear. * Edward Teach, A.K.A Blackbeard and his crew made their (unexpected, since they were about to retire) last stand against Lieutenant Robert Maynard, who laid an ambush on his crew. Before the battle began, Blackbeard reportedly [[BadassBoast said]] "[[BloodKnight Damnation seize my soul if I give you quarters, or take any from you.]]". A fierce [[BigBadassBattleSequence battle]] ensued between the two crews, [[OneManArmy Blackbeard]] proceeded to slaughter the greatest number of people he could, and managed to survive five shots and ''twenty'' stabs. Ultimately, Blackbeard and Maynard ended up locked in a fierce duel amidst the battle, when Blackbeard was about to kill Maynard once and for all, a British sailor attacked him from behind, sliced his neck ''and'' chopped off his head, finally killing [[ImplacableMan Blackbeard]]. The rest of his crew put up a fight even after the fact, but were outnumbered by the Sailors and ultimately surrendered.* The siege of Misrata in the Libyan Civil War. After the chaos of the early war solidified into Gaddafi holding western Libya and the rebels holding eastern Libya, Misrata was one of a few rebel-held settlements in western Libya. Gaddafi's forces laid siege to the town, and given how far it was from the rebel lines, most assumed it would eventually fall. However, despite Gaddafi having things like tanks and heavy weapons, the people of Misrata held on, becoming a town of [[ActionSurvivor Action Survivors]], until the siege was finally lifted. Afterwards, the Misratan militias served with distinction for the remainder of the war.* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benkei Saito Musashibo Benkei]] deserves special mention, despite being listed in the first Website/{{Cracked}} article, as he DiedStandingUp while enforcing this. After fighting to buy time for his lord [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled to commit]] {{Seppuku}}, none of the enemy wanted to test his wrath, believing him to be ''a demon from hell'', as he'd killed 300 soldiers that had tried to cross. It was only after a long while that they realized he had died, due to their fear to approach. Medically speaking, it's believed that the lactic acid his muscles produced from the fighting caused a sudden onset of rigor mortis, causing his body to "lock up" while still standing [[RuleOfCool and holding his halberd]]. He has a small shrine today where this happened.* The Shangani Patrol during the First Matabele War. British Major Allan Wilson let a group of 37 hastily assembled scouts, including two Americans (the well known American adventurer Frederick Burnham was one of them) and an Australian. The small group came upon 3,000 strong Matabele warriors. Going into BadAss mode, the 37 men killed several hundred warriors before running low on ammo, Major Wilson ordered Burnham to break out with two other troopers and bring back help. Burnham and the two others broke through the lines but reinforcements did not arrive in time as Wilson fought to his very last bullet, at which point, the few remaining British stood, sang "God Save the Queen", and shook hands with one another preparing for death. Wilson and his second in command Henry Borrow were the last killed.* Two Finnish words: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kollaa Kollaa kestää]]. (''Kollaa will hold''). [[TheDeterminator It did.]]* The Battle of Raseiniai, a city in Lithuania, occurred in June 1941. Here Russian and German tanks engaged, and while the battle lasted several days, the German forces managed to push the Russians out in the end. However, in the middle of the whole thing, a single KV-2 tank managed to hold off the entire 6th Panzer Division(consisting of about 100 vehicles) for an entire day, before running out of ammo and being knocked out. One tank vs an entire enemy division. It wasn't even destroyed by anti-tank fire, but by a grenade shoved into a hole made by the anti-tank weaponry!* An example that got included in ''Call Of Duty 3'', the Polish defense of Hill 262, Mont Ormel. A combination of YouShallNotPass and LastStand. In the final three days of the WW2 event known as the Falaise Pocket, the Polish armored divisions pushed to take a section of the mountain that would allow them to rain fire down on escaping German troops. As the United States took Chambois, this left Hill 262 as one of the few pathways to escape the pocket. From 19 August 1944 to 21 August, the Germans pushed against the Polish with reckless abandon, and by the night of the 20th, the Polish were exhausted and dangerously low on supplies. The quote below is from their CO, Stefanowicz, as he broke the news to his men. Averted in the end, as [[BigDamnHeroes the Canadians managed to arrive to save the Poles]] by midday on the 21st.-->Gentlemen, all is lost. I do not think that the Canadians can come to our rescue. We have only about 110 able-bodied men left. Five shells per gun and 50 bullets per man. That's very little, but fight all the same. Surrender to the S.S. is futile; you know that. I thank you. You have fought well. Good luck, gentlemen. Tonight we shall die for Poland and for civilization! . . . each tank will fight independently, and eventually each man for himself."* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_off_Samar The Battle Off Samar]], a part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, saw a small American task group of three destroyers, four destroyer escorts, and six escort carriers designated Taffy 3 taken by surprise by a Japanese surface group consisting of one battleship, six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and eleven destroyers. The battleship? ''Yamato'', which ''alone'' outweighed ''the entire American task force''. If they withdrew the Japanese would have an open path to the otherwise defenseless invasion beaches, so with no where to run, and no help coming, Admiral Clifton Sprague had only one thing to say: "small boys attack." The end result? One of the most lopsided battles in history, and a crushing defeat. ''[[AvertedTrope Of the Japanese]]''. For the loss of two destroyers, a destroyer escort, and two escort carriers, the Americans sunk ''three'' of the heavy cruisers and severely damaged three more, and drove off ''the largest battleship in history''. Taffy 3's defense of the landing beaches was so tenacious and ferocious that Kurita, commander of the Japanese task group, thought he was tangling with ''the entire Seventh Fleet'' and withdrew. Taffy 3's desperate assault against ''Yamato'' and her consorts has since been immortalized as The Last Stand Of The Tin Can[[note]]due to their lack of armor, destroyer escorts were affectionately referred to as "tin cans" by their crews[[/note]] Sailors, earning Commander Ernst Evans, captain of ''Johnston'', a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor, while ''Samuel B. Roberts'' would be remembered as "the destroyer escort that fought like a battleship." So courageous was their defense that survivors of one of the three destroyers sunk by the Japanese(''Johnston'', ''Samuel B. Roberts'', and ''Hoel'') would later report that, as they were abandoning ship, they were passed by a Japanese destroyer whose crew manned the rails armed with rifles, at which point the survivors feared they would be shot. [[WorthyOpponent But then one of the officers saluted, and the enlisted crew came to attention and presented arms to honor the Americans.]]--> "This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can," Lt. Cmdr. Robert W. Copeland, commanding officer USS ''Samuel B. Roberts''[[/folder]]